Israel Denies Shooting Civilians at Gaza Aid Site, Blames Hamas for Deadly Incident

The Red Cross reported the highest number of weapon-wounded patients in a single incident since the field hospital was established more than a year ago

Displaced Palestinians, some carrying sacks of food, leave a distribution centre in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 1, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

Israel has denied shooting Palestinians near a humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza, saying its forces did not target civilians and accusing Hamas of opening fire in the area.

The Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist group, said more than 30 Palestinians were killed and nearly 170 injured on June 1 in southern Gaza near a food distribution site and that the Israeli military opened fire on people as they gathered to receive food aid.

On June 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied the claims in a post on social media platform X.

“False reports have been spread in recent hours, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza,” the IDF said.

The Israeli military said that according to findings from an initial inquiry, the IDF “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and ... reports to this effect are false.”

The IDF said it was cooperating with the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and international aid organizations to enable the distribution of aid to Gazan residents, and “not to Hamas.”

On June 2, the Red Cross said that in the 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.”

It said that the majority of those suffered “gunshot or shrapnel wounds.”

Twenty-one patients were declared dead upon arrival, and all patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site, according to the Red Cross.

“This is the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago. It far surpassed the capacity of the hospital,” it said.

Israel began restricting aid deliveries into Gaza in March, claiming that Hamas was stealing the aid and selling it to finance its military operations.

In a May 22 statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had consulted with Israel’s American allies regarding what to do “to prevent Hamas from looting the aid” and that, together, they had “devised a mechanism to achieve this goal.”

The GHF was created earlier in 2025 as part of an Israeli-initiated plan to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza without interference from Hamas.

On May 25, Jake Wood, executive director of the GHF, resigned, saying that it was clear the plan could not be implemented while adhering “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence,“ which he said he ”will not abandon.”

Wood, a former U.S. Marine sniper who was appointed to the role two months ago, did not give further details.

The French government said on May 30 that it could toughen its position on Israel over the aid situation in Gaza.

“The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on May 30 during a joint press conference in Singapore with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

“And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position. But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response.”

The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists crossed the border into Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages into the strip of territory they controlled.

Numbers in May from the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza state that the ensuing conflict has killed at least 52,800 Palestinians. The numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and cannot be independently verified.

Reuters contributed to this report.