Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people awaiting aid trucks in Gaza, ministry says

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Reuters

Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians on Tuesday as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory's health ministry said, adding that dozens of others were wounded.

Medics said residents said Israeli tanks fired shells at crowds of desperate Palestinians awaiting aid trucks along the main eastern road in Khan Younis. They said at least 51 people were killed and 200 wounded, with at least 20 of them in critical condition.

There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on the incident.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks fired at least two shells at thousands of people awaiting aid trucks. Nasser Hospital wards were crowded with casualties, and medical staff had to place some on the ground and in corridors due to the lack of space.


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-tank-shelling-kills-45-people-awaiting-aid-trucks-gaza-ministry-says-2025-06-17/

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Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis on Tuesday morning. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The killings did not appear to be related to a new Israel- and US-supported aid delivery network that was introduced last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.

Yousef Nofal, a witness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. “It was a massacre,” he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled the area.

Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. “I survived by a miracle,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/17/dozens-killed-in-gaza-waiting-for-food-trucks-says-health-ministry

Yesterday:

At least 37 Palestinians were killed on Monday in new shootings in Gaza near food distribution centres run by private US contractors guarded by Israeli troops, local authorities said.

Witnesses blamed the shootings on Israeli troops who opened fire early in the morning as crowds of hungry Palestinians converged on two hubs managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organisation that recently began operating in Gaza with Israeli and US support.
...
Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at about 4am at the Flag roundabout. The traffic circle, hundreds of metres from the GHF centre, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings.
...
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday its field hospital in Gaza had received 200 patients, marking the highest number received by the facility in one mass casualty incident.

On Sunday, the same hospital treated 170 people, many of whom “were wounded by gunshots, and who reported that they were trying to access a food distribution site”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/16/gaza-food-centre-shooting-israel-ghf

[Lonestarblue]

1. Israel's senseless killing just never stops.

The IDF is treating starving Palestinians as target practice in an arcade.

[duhneece]

2. It's heartbreaking and enraging

It’s like watching abused, cruelly treated children grow up to be just as cruel.
I understand but would do anything to stop it.

[Goddessartist]

3. Every day

These Palestinians are slaughtered.... genocide.

[Bayard]

4. Israel is writing its own future with these atrocities

Any Palestinian children that are left alive will grow up to hate them even more, and set off more bombs. The cycle will never end.

[AloeVera]

5. Who shoots tank shells at thousands of starved, unarmed civilians?

Soldiers who have been told by leadership they can do anything to Palestinians, normal rules of engagement no longer apply.

Why destroy an existing, efficient, vital aid delivery network, only to set up a clearly dangerous, punitive, inefficient-by-design sham system that at capacity could only feed 60% of the population - but is actually feeding even far less? Having only four aid hubs for more than 2 million people - replacing over 400 hubs - is some psychopath's idea of a funny joke. The "joke" is working exactly as planned.

The plan is, if Palestinians don't eat, they will be more "willing" to leave. If that means killing a few hundred or even a few thousand of the starving to scare them off even going for food, the plan will work quicker.

This disaster comes as eyes are off Gaza and onto Iran. I really fear for what is happening that we don't even know about. Israel has once again destroyed communication cables and internet is down.

[thought crime]

13. You're right, this is not an isolated incident in the fog of war. This is a war crime.

This is established policy. Shoot. Shoot to kill.

[Dreamer Tatum]

6. "the territory's health ministry said" nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. And say witnesses and medics. And, basically, the Israeli military.

Witnesses interviewed by Reuters said Israeli tanks had launched at least two shells at a crowd of thousands who had gathered on the main eastern road through Khan Younis in the hope of obtaining food from aid trucks that use the route.
...
Palestinian medics said at least 59 people were killed and 221 wounded in the incident, at least 20 of them in critical condition. Casualties were being rushed into the hospital in civilian cars, rickshaws and donkey carts. It was the worst death toll in a single day since aid resumed in Gaza in May.

In a statement, the Israeli military said: "Earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.

"The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach. The details of the incident are under review. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops."

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-tank-shelling-kills-45-people-awaiting-aid-trucks-gaza-ministry-says-2025-06-17/

[AloeVera]

8. I recall the vehement denials a week ago it was the IDF...

Mostly crickets now... When something forms a pattern, denials look foolish and propaganda-like.

How hard is it to face the fact your side are the bad guys? I admit, it can't be easy. But every denial feeds the genocide-machine just a little bit more....so must be fought.

Thanks...

[al bupp]

11. It's hard to defend the indefensible

Though, usually at least a few try.

[Mosby]

14. HAMAS are the good guys?

The story is fake BTW. Everyone there has smartphones and yet not one video has been posted. Hmmm.

[AloeVera]

15. Because the IDF destroyed telecommunications/internet 6 days ago!!!

Airstrikes destroyed the last cable into Gaza.

Now humanitarian aid is imperiled, civilians can't even receive military warnings - further endangering them - can't contact emergency and of course can't take or post videos.

Why would the IDF do that??? Now everything is under cover of darkness.

It's as if Israel is trying to make life as miserable and dangerous as possible but without the world seeing.

Truly, truly despicable.

Even the IDF admits they fired at the crowd. You don't believe them?

Tank shells kill a lot of people in close proximity. Firing on civilians with a tank is a war crime for a reason.

There are no good guys here. That's the hard truth but somehow I don't think we'll ever agree on that.

[Rob H.]

9. International journalists are barred, and Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinian

journalists and media members since 10/23. More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan combined.

[AloeVera]

10. Who else would track the caualties than the hospitals of the Ministry?

But ok, who else?

Foreign journalists, independent international observers, the UN?

Banned, banned and banned.

So what would you propose? Perhaps there should be no reporting? How about if every IDF soldier tracks and identifies the person/child they've killed? Would you believe it then? It's not a bad idea...

[cliffside]

12. 51 Gazans killed waiting for aid, Health Ministry says; IDF reviewing incident - Wapo

The Israel Defense Forces said a crowd gathered near an aid truck “in proximity to IDF troops” and that it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.”
Updated
June 17, 2025 at 3:51 p.m. EDT

Full article link
https://wapo.st/4jQFvSk

"CAIRO — At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 injured by Israeli fire while they waited for aid near Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces said that it was aware of reports of “a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach” and that the incident was under review.

Twenty of the cases involved serious injuries, and the dead and injured were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex, the Health Ministry said. In a statement, the IDF said that a “gathering was identified” next to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area “in proximity to IDF troops.”

“The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops,” it said.

Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Health Ministry’s statistics team, described “many cases” requiring amputations. He and Munir al-Bursh, the ministry’s director, both said the injuries at the al-Tahlia roundabout appeared to be from shelling. Their accounts aligned with the testimony of a survivor of the attack, who was reached by phone on Tuesday...."