Aid routes remain deadly

Palestinians trying to reach food and other aid in Gaza came under fire again on 2025-06-10, killing 36 people and wounding 207, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry as reported by AP. The episode was the latest in a pattern of deadly shootings near aid distribution points as civilians searched for food in a territory already battered by war and shortages.

The AP report said at least 163 people had been killed and 1,495 wounded in shootings near aid sites run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where access is controlled through military zones closed to independent media. In one account from southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital said more than a dozen of the dead were killed around Rafah, where people had been gathering almost daily to reach aid hubs.

The violence around aid distribution has become a defining feature of the humanitarian crisis. AP said experts and aid workers warned that Israel’s blockade and 20-month military campaign had pushed Gaza to the brink of famine. The report also described long lines and desperate scenes as families tried to secure enough food to survive.

Witnesses in central Gaza told AP that Israeli forces opened fire near an aid site before dawn, while the military said it had fired warning shots at people it identified as suspects who advanced toward troops hundreds of meters from the site before opening hours. Those accounts could not be reconciled in the report, and AP presented them as competing descriptions of the same event.

The day’s toll came alongside wider Israeli military pressure. AP reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been “meaningful progress” in ceasefire talks, while also saying it was too early to be hopeful. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar echoed that some movement had been made, but no agreement was announced.

The report also described continued debate over the distribution of aid itself. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had paused deliveries while it discussed safety with the military, while the U.N. and aid groups continued to criticize the system as inadequate and potentially coercive. Israel said Hamas siphoned off aid; the U.N. and aid organizations denied that significant diversion was taking place.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has become inseparable from the military campaign. AP noted that most of the territory’s population of about 2.3 million relies on communal kitchens, that food stocks were nearly exhausted, and that the number of trucks entering had fallen far short of pre-war levels. In that setting, even the act of seeking food has become dangerous.

What was verified

AP supports the death and injury toll, the reported shootings near aid sites, the role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the blockade context, and the conflicting accounts from witnesses and the Israeli military.