Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 10 civilians who were shot while trying to collect humanitarian aid, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported, as deaths from starvation and disease also surged in the war-ravaged enclave.
The bloodshed unfolded amid chaotic food distributions in central and southern Gaza, where the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operates several aid centers.
Medics said the victims were gunned down in two separate incidents near GHF sites – one in the Netzarim Corridor and the other in Rafah.
Near the morgue at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, 40-year-old Bilal Thari waited with dozens of others to collect bodies wrapped in thick household blankets – a grim substitute for the traditional white burial shrouds that have grown scarce.
“Everyone who goes to the aid sites comes back either with a bag of flour or as a martyr,” he told reporters. “No one comes back safe.”
He had come to retrieve the body of his nephew, one of 13 people killed Sunday while waiting for U.N. aid trucks near the Zikim crossing, at Gaza’s northern edge.
“We don’t want war anymore,” Thari said. “We want peace. We want to live like human beings. Right now, there’s no life in Gaza.”
The most lethal incident Monday occurred outside a GHF distribution site in central Gaza, where Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd lining up for food.
Eight civilians were killed instantly, according to local medics, with video footage showing bodies – including children – scattered beside torn sacks of flour.
In Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, two successive airstrikes struck a civilian area, killing seven. Four died in the first blast; the rest were hit as they rushed in to help. Two more were killed in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, in what witnesses described as an unprovoked strike on a group waiting for food rations.
Elsewhere, in Deir al-Balah’s al-Hekir district, an Israeli airstrike flattened a home, killing a father, mother, and their young daughter. Neighbors pulled injured survivors from the rubble, but two others remained missing Monday night.
In southern Gaza, near Rafah, two civilians, including a woman, were fatally shot and over 20 others injured while waiting in another food line. Witnesses said Israeli troops fired without warning.
Alongside the carnage, Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed five new starvation deaths, including at least two children, bringing the total to 180 famine-related deaths – 93 of them children – since the start of Israel’s siege in October 2023.
Doctors also reported a worrying rise in Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological illness linked to prolonged malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, and extreme stress.
Three more people – two of them children under 15 – died from the illness in the past 24 hours. Medical staff warn of a potential epidemic without immediate access to life-saving nutrition and medication.
“This is no longer just a war zone,” one physician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said. “It’s a collapsing public health system with people starving and neurological conditions spreading like wildfire.”
Aid Blocked, Looted, or Delayed
Despite Israel’s claims that it has facilitated the entry of over 1,200 trucks carrying 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in the last week, only a fraction of that aid is reaching those in need.
U.N. officials say most trucks remain stranded near crossings or stuck in logistical limbo due to insecurity, lack of distribution capacity, or looting by desperate civilians.
Gaza’s government says at least 600 trucks must enter the enclave daily – the prewar average – to meet basic survival needs.
According to the Israeli military agency COGAT, aid trucks are being held up by the inability of humanitarian agencies to safely transport goods to distribution hubs.
But aid groups and local officials say it’s Israel’s restrictions – and attacks near aid sites – that are obstructing safe access.
The previous day, 14 Palestinians were killed in multiple incidents across the Strip.
In Rafah, nine civilians were shot dead while waiting at aid lines.
In Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced people in the Al-Amal neighborhood, killing two.
In Shejaiya, three civilians died from artillery fire while standing outside a bombed-out residence.
Shelling continued across Khan Younis, forcing more displaced families to flee toward already overcrowded shelters in the south.
The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 60,800 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, the majority women and children.
Tens of thousands remain homeless, medical infrastructure is in ruins, and entire neighborhoods have been flattened.
Israel launched its military campaign following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza.
Israeli authorities say 50 hostages remain in the enclave.
International condemnation continues to grow.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes.
A separate genocide case against Israel is being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
