During the morning of June 1, 2025, at least 25 civilians were killed, including three women, and at least 120 others were injured, including women and children – many seriously – by alleged Israeli action near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (referred to also by sources as the “American company”) aid distribution point in Mawasi, Rafah in the Gaza Strip; also referred to as ‘Safe Distribution Site 1’ (SDS 1) or the distribution site near the Al-Alam (Flag) roundabout. Airwars also identified two militants among those killed.

Counting those injured and killed

Safa News reported at 6:56am that 26 people had been killed when Israeli forces bombed citizens who were heading to receive aid from the “American company’s” distribution point in Mawasi, Rafah. Sa7atPlBreaking posted on Twitter/X that 30 people had been killed and 150 had been wounded in the attacks on those seeking aid while TvAlmasirah quoted “Government media” as saying that in addition to 31 killed, 120 had been wounded. The highest death tolls were provided by kimo465, which reported on Twitter/X that 35 people had been killed, and Al Hadath Channel, which quoted “Gaza Health” as saying that the death toll had risen to 49.

Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s field team provided a detailed account that the Israeli forces and the American organization “directed Palestinians to receive aid from the area, asking them to wait until 6:00 a.m. to pass through the inspection gates to obtain the aid. They were then reportedly targeted with direct fire from quadcopter drones, followed by tank shells. Members of the American company also reportedly fired tear gas canisters at the starving crowds, resulting in dozens of casualties and a massive stampede to escape death and gunfire.”

In a preliminary toll, @EuroMedHRAr identified approximately 31 deaths, including two women, and more than 200 injuries, with additional people missing. The Palestinian NGO Network provided a similar death toll of 31 while putting the injury toll at more than 170, including “5 of whom are in a state of clinical death (coma), and 30 other cases described as critical, and a number of missing”. The International Committee for the Red Cross released a statement that “Early morning on June 1, the 60-bed Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah received a mass casualty influx of 179 cases, including women and children. The majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds. Twenty-one patients were declared dead upon arrival. All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site.”

Names of those killed

The names of 24 people killed in the attack on the aid site near Mawasi were found among local sources. @Sa7atPlBreaking named 27-year-old Khalil Ahmed Musbah (Abu Al-Layl) as among those killed by Israeli army fire near the US aid distribution center. According to Genocide in Gaza, Khalil died of his injuries several days after. A Facebook post from Mohamed Awad reported that Ahmed Hassouna Ahmed al-Qadra had been killed trying to get flour, and included a Facebook post from Ahmed saying that he wasn’t able to get flour previously, presumably referencing another aid distribution.

Mohamed Awad provided additional names of those killed: Mohammed Naeem Barbakh (a militant), Ayesh Mohammed Ayesh Zenoun, Fayez Salama Ali Abu Jazar (Abu Maher), a teacher named Maha Jamal Ali Qudaih, Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha (a militant), Mohammed Maher Sabry Za’rab, Bassam Hussam Mahmoud Abu Labda, Ahmed Essam Suleiman Abu Zuhri (Abu Essam), Nidal Khamis Ibrahim Siam (Abu Muhammad), Abdul Qader Salim Salem Qudaih, 26-year-old Ahmed Abdul Karim Hussein Breis (Abu Ibrahim), Shahada Mohammed Salman Abu Baraka, Fawzi Ashraf Fawzi Dahliz, Yousef Amer Abu Sneida, Atef Shahada Salem Siam, 34-year-old Iyad Tahseen Adel al-Muqanin (Abu Hussam), Asmaa Ayman Musa Abu Taima, 34-year-old Fouad Salim Subhi Abu al-Khair (Abu Zuhair), a 25-year-old member of the Palestinian National Karate Team named Ayman Mahmoud Totah, Attia Adel Abdul Malik, 33-year-old Ismail Salim Salim Madi, and Manal Saleh Mahmoud Ghaben (Tabasi). Mohamed noted that in addition to the 24 named civilians killed, a 25th unknown body was brought to Nasser Hospital after being killed in the “flour massacre” west of Rafah.

When Airwars first published this incident on July 23, 2025, no open sources were found to suggest that Mohammed Naeem Barbakh was a militant. As such, Mohammed Naeem Barbakh was recorded as a civilian. This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status‘. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.

On June 22, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), published a tribute to Mohammed Naeem Barbakh, identifying him as a “martyred fighter”. As such, Airwars updated Mohammed Naeem Barbakh’s status from civilian to militant.

31-year-old Issa Saleh Suleiman al-Jarjawi was also named in Mohamed’s post. However, a Facebook post from Issa’s cousin, Issa Waed Al-Akhira (account ‘The promise of the Hereafter’ ), stated that Issa was killed in a jeep “at Al-Tahlia roundabout”. A different incident (ISPT010625b) was recorded at Al-Tahlia roundabout and involved a strike on a vehicle. As such, Issa has not been included in this incident, but rather incident ISPT010625b (forthcoming).

In a video published by @haytham_alshari, the bodies of three men – it is unclear if they are deceased or seriously injured – are transported on a wooden cart while another video shows a cart pulled by a donkey stacked with bleeding victims. According to the journalist Saleh Alnatoor, it took three continuous hours to transport the bodies of the victims and ambulances could not reach the location of the massacre because it was considered a military zone. Other sources including Al Mezan Center also mentioned that all of the victims were transferred to Nasser Hospital either by being carried or being brought by animal-drawn carts. AP News spoke with Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a Health Ministry official at Nasser Hospital, who said “The scene was horrible” and that most victims had been shot “in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest” – Nasser Hospital reportedly received 28 bodies and 150 wounded people, some from the Red Cross field hospital.

Eyewitness accounts

AP News spoke with a witness named Mohammed Abu Teaima who said he saw the Israeli military open fire and kill his cousin, who was shot in the chest, as well as a woman. Mohammed said that his brother-in-law was also injured, saying “They opened heavy fire directly toward us.”

The Guardian spoke with Yarin Abu al-Naja (44) who said that “My brother went to receive aid from the American distribution points in Rafah when the bullets started raining down on them. The Israeli soldiers had started shooting at the people there. My brother went with two of his friends. One of them was critically injured in the head, the other was killed, and my brother was shot in the back. He was transported to the hospital by a donkey cart – no ambulances can reach the area, and there were dozens of injured and dead. We saw him placed on the ground. There were no available beds due to the large number of casualties and dead arriving from the same location. The scenes were horrific – people missing limbs, hands or legs, others decapitated, or with open abdomens.”

A witness named Hani Baraka (43) told The Guardian that “I went with my brother [Shahada Mohammed Salman Abu Baraka] to get food for our children. The area was very crowded. At the start, a quadcopter drone came and gave orders, saying it was still too early to open the gates and that they would open them at 6am. It seems people moved forward earlier than the time set by the army. The soldiers panicked and began firing at the crowd. My brother was shot in the head and killed instantly. On its way back, the drone hit a hanging wire and fell to the ground. People rushed toward it, and then the Israeli soldiers opened fire on us. Army snipers surrounded the area and started shooting at the crowd.”

Another witness named Abdulrahman Odeh (21) described to the New York Times walking in a crowd before dawn along a roughly three-mile route to the distribution site in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood which was lined with Israeli tanks and military jeeps. He said that the shooting started around 4:30am before he had reached the distribution point and he later saw bodies being carted away, but was able to reach the site and receive aid, explaining that “There’s no system or order to receive it. It’s survival of the fittest.”

Verifying footage from the incident

BBC Verify investigated the incident, reporting that it occurred in the Tel al-Sultan area near Safe Distribution Site 1 (SDS 1) operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). On the morning of the deadly incident, the GHF had posted on their Facebook page that SDS 1 would be open at 5:00am local time but posted an hour later saying the site was closed. AP News spoke with witnesses who said that while walking down the road toward the distribution hub, the Israeli military fired warning shots and told them through drone announcements to turn around and return at 5am. However, at 3am, thousands were gathered at the Al-Alam (Flag) Roundabout (about 1100 yard from the aid site) when the Israeli military started shooting into the crowd with guns, tanks, and drones unprovoked, according to one man in the crowd. The BBC quoted a statement from the GHF saying that “There were no injuries, fatalities or incidents during our operations yesterday. Period. We have yet to see any evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility.” The Guardian quoted witnesses who mentioned that “Inside the gate, there were armed American soldiers, but they did not fire at us. They only threw plastic stun grenades in the square to scare people and clear the area once the aid ran out.”

Following the incident, the IDF released a statement on their official Telegram channel saying “The IDF is currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the Humanitarian Aid distribution site. The matter is still under review.” A bit later in the day on June 1st, the IDF released another statement saying “In recent hours, false reports have been spread, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip. Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.” By the evening, the IDF had released what it said was “IDF drone footage captured earlier today (Sunday) reveals armed and masked individuals hurling rocks and firing at Gazan civilians attempting to collect looted humanitarian aid in southern Khan Yunis.” ABC NEWS Verify “matched the start of the IDF drone vision, to an on-the-ground video posted at 3:22pm local time on June 1, from a Khan Younis neighbourhood Facebook page.”Near Al-Tahlia in Khan Yunis [they] stole flour trucks, then started selling it by organising lines of citizens who came to buy,” the post said.”Using violence and intimidating them with batons and some light weapons under the pretext of arranging the queues.” The videos were matched using a post, trees, and a building which appeared in both videos.

The BBC reviewed video reportedly taken at the distribution site, including footage “filmed on the route to the aid site, purportedly on Sunday, people lie on the ground and an explosion is heard” which was identified as the sound of a battle tank.  Audio recordings provide by the UK-Med field hospital about 3km away from the site “captured two apparent explosions and protracted gunfire for over five minutes”. While the BBC was unable to geolocate the video exactly, it reported that the video was likely filmed in the vicinity of the aid distribution site, writing: “lights seen in the distance suggest that the footage may have been filmed in an area about 1km from SDS 1.”

Another video, posted at 6:08am showed “dozens of people lying prone on sand, with automatic gunfire audible” – the BBC was unable to identify the exact location of the the final video, or comment on it’s proximity to an aid distribution site. Images of 5.56mm and 7.62mm bullets recovered from victims were provided by doctors to the BBC, but the outlet noted that “both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian armed groups will have access to weapons that fire 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds”.

A very graphic video posted by Aljazeera reportedly garnered over 134,000 on Twitter/X and purported to show the bodies of victims near the aid point in Rafah. However, BBC Verify chronolocated and geolocated the video, and found that it was likely filmed in Khan Younis the evening before, and not related to aid distribution or people seeking aid.

Counter-claims 

The @PeaceComCenter released a video purportedly from an “An eye witness to tragedy in southern Gaza” who described Hamas as being the cause of killings and panic during aid distribution “a few days ago” – as this testimony isn’t related to a specific date or location, it cannot be tied to a specific incident.

Ynet News also published what it referred to as “security camera footage from Gaza aid center” which shows “no shooting” – the footage does not have a date or time stamp, so it is unclear when it was taken. Christianity Today spoke with a man they called Osama Sawarih (not his real name) who still attributed the attack to Israeli snipers and quadcopter, but said it occurred when people “did not comply with instructions from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and attempted to bypass the line”.

Testimonies from family and friends

The family and friends of those identified as killed in this attack memorialised and mourned their loved ones on social media.

Mohammed Abdel Barbakh posted a memorial for his cousin Mohammed Naeem Barbakh, along with an image of Mohammed Naeem, a middle aged man, dressed in a white button-down shirt in front of a colorful background.

A post from Mohammed Jawad mourned his neighbor Ahmed Hassouna Ahmed al-Qadra, who was “named after his older brother, the martyr, and today he joins his brother Ahmed.” The post included a smiling Ahmed wearing a turquoise shirt. Cousins Saeda Salim and Jehad Abo Jad also mourned their relative Ahmed and included images of him smiling in different locations and a post from Hisham Shalula added that Ahmed was a father of three children and Barcelona football fan.

Tayseer Qadih mentioned that three of those killed were from the Al-Amal neighborhood – Fouad Salim Subhi Abu al-Khair, a resident of Zahra Square in the al-Amal neighborhood; Iyad Tahseen Adel al-Muqanin, a resident of al-Gharabli Square in the al-Amal neighborhood; Ahmed Hassouna Ahmed al-Qadra, a resident of the “new neighborhoods”.

A post from Eastern Pulse mourning Iyad Tahseen also referred to him as a resident of Abasan Al-Kabira, and Iyad Tahseen was also mourned by his uncle Ammar Yasser and cousin Fidaa Hussein and many others, with his uncle Ammar posting a picture with Iyad, a young man seen wearing sunglasses and smiling.

Condolences were offered to the mother of Fouad Salim Subhi Abu al-Khair for the loss of her son, a cousin of “كہٰۙﹻﹻ۬ﹻ۬۬ﹻرم ۦﭑﭑﭘۦٰ۬ۛﹻۄ ﺳﹻۦۙﹻۙﹻﻧﹻۦۙﹻۙﹻډ ۦۦﹾ٭ﹾ‎:” who included an image of Fouad, a young man.

Hassanin Zenoun mourned the loss of the “family’s son” Ayesh Mohammed Ayesh Zenoun, and included an image of Ayesh, a young man. In another post by Mukhtar Abu Ammar, Ayesh is pictured holding an infant, possibly his child.

Fayez Salama Ali Abu Jazar “succumbed to his injuries” from the ‘American aid massacre’ and joined his “martyred” son Hatem, who was killed a year before, according to a post from Saif al-Bahri. The post included an image of Fayez, a middle aged man in a suit, and a younger man, presumably his late son Hatem.

Well-wishes in the afterlife were provided to Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha by relative Ramadan [al-Nawajha], and in an image accompanying the post Mohammed Rouhi can be seen posing on a sandy beach and smiling at the camera.

When Airwars first published this incident on July 23, 2026, no open sources were found to suggest that Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha was a militant. As such, Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha was recorded as a civilian. This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status‘. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.

On July 5, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)’s armed wing, published a tribute to Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Mohammed Rouhi Abdul Aziz al-Nawajha’s status from civilian to militant.

Eng Abedelkareem [Za’rab] offered condolences to his cousin Maher Maher Abu Sabry Za’rab on the death of his son Mohammed Maher Sabry Za’rab and included an image of Mohammed, a young man, in a bright red shirt and hat standing in a sandy background.

Bassam Hussam Mahmoud Abu Labda, a very young man or teenager, was mourned by Shaheen S Abu Labda, and was photographed in a green shirt posing with a smile.

Nezar Abu Zohri mourned their cousin Ahmed Essam Suleiman Abu Zuhri, a young man pictured posing with a thumbs-up.

Mohammad Sobh’s cousin Abdul Qader Salim Salem Qudaih had been killed while searching for a livelihood for his children, and was remembered by his family, including his cousin Ahmad Qudaih. Relative Raed Qudaih further noted that Abdul Qader had been arrested during the first Intifada and sentenced to life imprisonment, was released during the Oslo Accords, and joined the ranks of the “17th apparatus of the Palestinian Presidential Security during the era of the late leader Yasser Arafat”. The post included a graphic image of a deceased Abdul Qader in a body bag.

According to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the Palestinian Presidential Security, or ‘Presidential Guard’ , “operates outside of the Palestinian Authority’s National Security Forces (NSF) and reports directly to the president.” The Guard’s mandate reportedly “includes personal protection to the president, counter-insurgency, and rapid intervention tasks”, and “receives training and support from Jordan and United States”. According to ECFR, the Guard’s role in the security infrastructure in Gaza ended in 2007 when Hamas took over the governing of Gaza and established the Security and Protection Unit. With this understanding of the Presidential Guard, coupled with the fact that arrest and imprisonment does not alone indicate on-going militant activity, Abdul Qader has been recorded as a civilian. This will be updated should additional information come to light.

Nidal Muhammad Siam was memorialised as a “virtuous husband” by his mother-in-law Umm Mazen Al-Sharafi, and was pictured in a green quarter-zip shirt.

Teacher Maha Jamal Ali Qudaih was mourned by Amal Hadad when she was killed “while trying to earn a living from the aid center” and the post included an image of Maha in a school setting holding a certificate.

An image of Palestinian karate professional Ayman Mahmoud Totah in his karate uniform during a match was posted by Alarabiya Palestine. According to Elsport, Ayman began his karate career with the Al-Zeitoun Sports Club under coach Khalil Ayyad, where he achieved many local titles. Ayman also represented the Palestinian national team in the 2023 Arab Games in Algeria, where he gave “a distinguished performance”.

The Siam family in the homeland and diaspora Facebook account also remembered their family member Atef Shahada Salem Siam and included a selfie of Atef. The Dahliz and Abu Aqla family mourned Fawzi Ashraf Fawzi Dahliz on Facebook.

An uncle of Ahmed Abdul Karim Hussein Breis named Sami Hussein expressed his sadness over the loss of his nephew, saying “Isn’t it time for this death to stop?” and attached an image of Ahmed in a light blue-green hoodie.

A Facebook page for “Abasan Al-Kabira” alerted that Khalil Ahmed Musbah was in critical condition in the intensive care unit after being injured – other posts identify Khalil as killed, indicating that it is likely he died of his injuries.

Ismail Salim Salim Madi was remembered by the “Madi family in the homeland and diaspora” in a post by Muhammad [Madi], along with an image of Ismail, a young man in a light pink shirt, who would be joining his uncle the “martyr” Sulaiman Salim Madi and his brother the “martyr” Bassam Salem Madi.

Samoud Abu Taima announced the passing of his dear sister Asmaa Ayman Musa Abu Taima, including an image of Asmaa, a middle-aged woman taking a selfie in a decorated room.

Where possible, the ages of victims have been found by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Genocide in Gaza, which has a list of “martyrs” of Israeli forces, as well as with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the ninth and tenth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ lists, which were released in June 2025.

Geolocation indicates GHF proximity.