On Sunday, 8 June 2025, at least two civilians were injured by pepper gas allegedly sprayed by U.S. security contractors s at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) aid distribution centre in Wadi Gaza, south of the Netzarim axis, Gaza, the Gaza Strip.
“News of Palestine at home and abroad” re-shared a post from the GHF’s Facebook page, notifying the opening of a distribution centre on that day, in Wadi Gaza. The post reported that the Wadi Gaza site was the “only one currently open.” The Facebook post further detailed that “American forces present inside the aid distribution point south of the Netzarim axis were spraying pepper gas” in the faces of civilians, which “led to a number of them injured by suffocation.” This news was also posted by Rafah City News, Voice of the Nation Radio, and users on social media including @zaid_ hasan and Abu Majeed Abu Ahmed al-Kame, among others.
Facebook user Mohamed Awad posted that “a number of injuries” had been reported from the incident due to the “US Army” spraying pepper gas at the civilians, with those injured transferred to al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah.
In the absence of a specific number of civilian casualties, Airwars has placed a casualty range of 2-2 for civilians injured in this incident, based on source descriptions of “a number” of injuries.
Sources did not provide names or further details of the civilians injured in the incident.
While it has been widely reported that many of those hired to work at the GHF sites are former U.S. military personnel, the American military itself is not known to have any direct presence in Gaza. As a result, in the context of this incident, Airwars is considering references to “American forces” and “the American military”to refer to U.S. military contractors working at the aid distribution sites.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the incident to the U.S. military contractors working at the distribution site.