Israeli occupation forces carried out a massacre in northwest Gaza on Sunday, killing more than 67 Palestinians and critically injuring over 150 others, according to a medical source from the Palestinian Ministry of Health who spoke to Al Manassa.
The victims were among thousands of hungry residents who had gathered in the Al-Zikim area in hopes of obtaining desperately needed flour and other basic food supplies, after reports circulated of aid trucks entering the area.
With famine tightening its grip on Gaza and residents struggling to find even the most basic staples, including flour, the crowd had rushed to Al-Zikim this morning.
Witnesses told Al Manassa that Israeli soldiers allowed some civilians to pass tank positions to reach the aid trucks. “They started calling out to the young men, saying, ‘Whoever wants flour, come get it,’” one witness recounted. “People ran forward out of desperation.”
Dozens of young men managed to grab 25-kg sacks of flour. Then, without warning, Israeli occupation forces opened fire using automatic weapons mounted on tanks. “They mowed people down,” said the witness.
Dead and wounded in an Israeli massacre near an aid distribution center in Al-Zikim area. July 20, 2025.“People began dropping to the ground in droves,” another witness recounted to Al Manassa. “Some tried crawling on the sand between the bodies of the dead and wounded, but the occupation forces kept firing,” they added.
The medical source said the dead and wounded were taken to several medical centers, including Al-Shifa Hospital, The Baptist Hospital, The Sheikh Radwan Clinic, and the Al-Saraya field hospital. Among those tragically killed, three bodies were found decapitated, while many others bore multiple bullet wounds to their upper bodies.
The death toll mounted as Israeli occupation forces continued firing on and targeting hungry civilians who had gathered for aid. Emergency workers and civil defense teams scrambled to evacuate the wounded to hospitals and medical centers.
An ambulance driver told Al Manassa he made multiple trips between the outskirts of the Al-Zikim area and medical centers, transporting wounded people in groups.
“Most had bullet wounds in their upper bodies,” he said, suggesting a deliberate intent to kill.
This isn’t the first time civilians in Gaza were targeted at the designated aid points set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A US-funded charity, the GHF began distributing relief packages in May, following months of a total Israeli aid blockade.
Hamas has condemned these sites as “calculated death traps,” accusing Israel of deliberately targeting locations where desperate civilians gather in search of food.
Additionally, a former GHF security contractor recently told the BBC he witnessed colleagues deliberately opening fire on hungry, unarmed Palestinians at the designated aid distribution sites; claims the organization has vehemently denied.
Mohammed Nawwara, 31, told Al Manassa he tried to reach Al-Zikim upon hearing flour trucks were delivering aid, but arrived too late. “They were already pulling the wounded and dead from the area,” he recounted.
“It was the first time I ever thought of going for the aid. My children were starving. I hadn’t slept all night because of their crying. I had to try to feed them. I had no other options.”
Nawwara returned home empty-handed, exhausted, and defeated after walking a long distance in vain.
His harrowing experience is a stark reflection of Gaza’s deepening famine. On Saturday night, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported unprecedented numbers of severely malnourished individuals arriving at emergency wards across the Strip. The blockade, it said, had caused a total collapse in food supply.
A medical source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Manassa that since Sunday morning, they had received multiple cases of fainting and severe exhaustion due to starvation.
The situation, the source warned, is expected to deteriorate further in the coming days, due to Israeli policies aimed at tightening the blockade and deliberately starving the civilian population.
By late Sunday, the Ministry of Health confirmed 73 deaths among those waiting for aid, with 67 fatalities recorded in northern Gaza. Additionally, more than 150 others were injured, many critically.
On March 18, Israel resumed its military campaign on Gaza. The assault follows a broken cease-fire deal, brokered in January, that was due to end with the exchange of captives and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Since then, Israel has kept border crossings shut, denying entry to humanitarian convoys, creating what rights groups call a “man-made famine,” with families surviving on animal feed or enduring days without eating.
Despite the escalating human toll, cease-fire efforts remain ongoing. Mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US engaged in talks for over 11 days, outlining a proposed 60-day halt to hostilities.
