Translated Content:
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the horrific crime committed by US private security forces contracted by the Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation (GHF) this morning, which resulted in the suffocation deaths of 18 civilians, including five children, and the injury of dozens more. Two civilians, including a woman, were also killed by Israeli forces near an aid distribution point in Rafah.
According to eyewitness accounts and information collected by PCHR's staff, dozens of civilians were killed and injured as a result of the crowding and stampede. Security personnel from the US security company operating at the Israeli/American aid distribution center in the al-Hashash neighborhood, northwest of Rafah, fired sound bombs and pepper spray at the civilians. At approximately 6:10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, the civilians were waiting for the aid center to open. The road is approximately 150 meters long and 4 meters wide, and at its end is a gate leading to the Israeli/American aid distribution center (south of the Morag axis) in the al-Hashash neighborhood, northwest of Rafah. This resulted in the deaths of 19 citizens, including five children, due to suffocation. The Center has their names, and dozens more were injured due to suffocation. Two citizens, including a woman, were also killed by Israeli forces near the same aid center: elderly woman Maryam Hamed Muhammad Abu Khatla, 57, and Ahmad Mahmoud Eid Muharib, 21. In his testimony to the Center's staff, citizen Muhammad Hamada Fawzi Za'rab, 20, a resident of Khan Yunis, recounted the details of the crime, saying:
"At approximately 4:00 a.m., I left the displacement area on Street 5 in Mawasi, Khan Yunis, with a number of my relatives, and walked to the American aid center near al-Tina Street (al-Maslakh Street), south of Khan Yunis. At approximately 6:10 a.m., we no longer heard the sound of gunfire from Israeli soldiers before the aid center opened. I ran with hundreds of citizens toward the aid center in a corridor approximately 3 meters wide and 150 meters long. The crowding was severe, and before some citizens reached the gate of the distribution center at the end of the corridor, some fell due to the crush, while others fell on top of them. I saw American soldiers throwing three sound bombs at us and spraying pepper gas at us. I was among those who fell, along with my relative Ramadan Omar Za'rab, 19. I was unable to breathe. Then the gate opened, and the citizens continued walking from They climbed over us and entered the aid center. After about a quarter of an hour, a number of citizens carried and extracted those who had fallen to the ground. They transported me and my relative Ramadan to Nasser Hospital via a donkey-drawn cart, along with three others. Others were transported in a tuk-tuk. In the reception area, my condition improved. A nurse administered an IV to my relative Ramadan Za'arub and gave him several injections. After that, his condition improved." Islam Nahed Mustafa Shahwan, a 26-year-old resident of Khan Yunis, told the Center's staff the following:
"At approximately 3:00 a.m., I left with my brother Muntaser, 36, and six of my relatives from our displacement site on Rashid Street, near the Karza rest stop in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis. We walked to the American aid center from al-Tina Street and the Lemon Orchard (Turkish Slaughterhouse Street), south of Khan Yunis. We arrived at approximately 4:00 a.m. Soldiers were firing around us as we took cover with thousands of other civilians behind trees and rubble or lying on the ground. At approximately 5:30 a.m., a woman in her fifties was shot next to me with a bullet in her forehead, which exited the back of her head and left a large hole in her skull. She died instantly. Some citizens carried her out of the area. At approximately 6:00 a.m., the shooting stopped." Some citizens were seen raising a green flag to let people know that the distribution center had been opened. Hundreds of citizens ran quickly towards the aid center through a narrow road, about 3.5 meters wide and 150 meters long, with a gate at the end in front of the aid center. In a few minutes, the narrow road (corridor) was filled with citizens. The situation was chaotic and everyone was crowding. An American soldier placed an electric shock stick on the fence, and other American soldiers threw about 4 sound bombs at the citizens and sprayed them with pepper gas. The crowding increased, and dozens of them fell to the ground, and others were trampled on. Among those who fell was my brother Muntaser, 36 years old. However, a citizen helped him stand up and pulled him out from underfoot. Then we took him and walked with him to the outside of the corridor. I then saw a crowding in which there were about 7 bodies of citizens who had suffocated from the crowding and falling to the ground. We did not find a means of transportation to return to our tent, so we walked until we reached it. My brother Muntaser was enduring the pain. After several hours, we called An ambulance arrived and transported him to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. He was found to have bruises and contusions in his chest and difficulty breathing.
These facts confirm the correctness of the Center's position that the aid distribution mechanism was designed to kill and humiliate the starving and must be stopped immediately. The direct involvement in creating chaos, overcrowding, and the use of gunfire and bombs against the starving also confirms that the organization is merely an executive arm of the occupation, managing starvation and facilitating the killing of Palestinians.
Since the opening of these centers on May 27, the occupation forces have killed 851 Palestinians and injured more than 5,634 others near these centers, without addressing the problem of starvation, which continues to spread. This killing is part of genocide, taking place under conditions that pose no threat to the lives of the occupation soldiers or the workers in the distribution centers.
The Center reiterates that these developments demonstrate that this aid distribution mechanism "completely violates the standards of humanitarian and relief work stipulated by international humanitarian law, and that it is a humiliating and degrading act in and of itself, and that it violates the right to freedom of expression and assembly." With respect for human dignity, especially for Palestinian civilians who have suffered for 21 months from systematic and deliberate Israeli starvation, in one of the most heinous contemporary mass crimes.
The Israeli mechanism does not offer practical solutions to end the tragedy of starvation. Rather, it creates an environment of chaos, and is a deliberate move to exclude international organizations and neutral humanitarian agencies, primarily the United Nations and its agencies, especially the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), from fulfilling their role in Gaza.
Accordingly, the Center urges the international community to pressure the occupying state to abolish this mechanism, which requires civilians to move to dangerous areas under occupation control, and to return to the entry of aid, enabling international organizations to distribute aid among the various displacement areas, in addition to allowing the free entry of goods without any restrictions.
It also calls on the international community and UN member states to immediately assume their humanitarian and legal responsibilities, intervene urgently, and pressure the occupation to halt the ongoing genocide, open all crossings leading to the Gaza Strip, and resume the entry of humanitarian aid without restrictions, immediately and on a large scale, under the supervision of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, free from any military or political interference from any other parties.