By:Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
The news is the same each day about Gaza. More deaths, more starvation and more suffering. Yesterday, at least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured after Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of starving Palestinians at a free food distribution hub in southern Gaza, the only free food available in all of Gaza.
Eye witness survivors of the massacre told reporters that they were shot at, they laid down on the ground, but jeeps and tanks arrived which continued to shoot at the defenseless people laying face-down on the ground.
The hub is run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Many of the dead were children and teenagers seeking to feed their families, according to eye witnesses.
However, the GHF issued a statement denying any deaths at or near their site. “We have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,” the group said.
The UN warns that all 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are at risk for famine.
The Gaza Strip is enduring an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, as famine intensifies under Israel’s continued military campaign and blockade. Over 100,000 children face imminent death due to starvation and malnutrition, while vital humanitarian aid remains obstructed.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the death toll has climbed to 58,765, with 140,485 wounded since the onset of Israeli hostilities on October 7, 2023. In the last 48 hours alone, 98 fatalities and 511 injuries were recorded. Many victims remain trapped beneath rubble or inaccessible due to the collapse of emergency infrastructure.
Since GHF operations began in May 2025, 891 deaths and 5,754 injuries have resulted from incidents around aid centers, including a recent episode in southern Gaza where 39 were killed and more than 100 wounded after Israeli forces opened fire. Eyewitnesses described the shooting as indiscriminate, targeting civilians gathered for relief.
GHF is an American organization, based in Delaware, established in February 2025 to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza humanitarian crisis. Supported by the Israeli and American governments, GHF began operating in May 2025 as a response to Israeli claims that aid was being diverted by Hamas.
GHF has been criticized by the United Nations and humanitarian groups for politicizing aid distribution, with well-established humanitarian groups saying the GHF is giving cover for Israel to pursue its aims to depopulate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and use starvation as a weapon of war, prompting its former head to resign.
GHF is led by executive director John Acree and executive chairman Johnnie Moore, an American evangelical leader. Right-wing Evangelicals in the U.S. most often believe that helping Israeli Jews to eliminate all Palestinians, will usher in the return of Jesus Christ. This pro-Trump base are called “Christian Zionists”.
As of 7 July 2025, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) records 615 killings at or near GHF distribution sites. As of July 1, the Gaza Health Ministry has traced 70% of the hundreds of aid-related deaths to GHF sites.
Israel claims its forces responded to “suspicious individuals” near Rafah with warning shots, despite aid centers being closed during the incident. The Foundation later stated misinformation had circulated about the timing and location of the fatalities, reiterating warnings against approaching aid centers during night hours.
The humanitarian crisis deepened after Israel closed all distribution centers in early July, leaving only Rafah operational. This has triggered explosive inflation and food scarcity, with illicit market prices far beyond citizens’ reach.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) confirmed it holds three months’ worth of food supplies but urged Israel to reopen border crossings. Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders reported a dramatic surge in severe malnutrition cases. Gaza’s health ministry warns that hundreds are on the brink of death due to the failure of their emaciated bodies to endure further deprivation.
The Trump administration announced sanctions on the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, an outspoken critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was sanctioning Albanese for directly engaging with the ICC in its efforts to prosecute American or Israeli nationals.
The sanctions would prevent Albanese from travelling to the US and would block any assets she has in America.
Rubio also accused Albanese of having “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West”.
Albanese has long argued that Western governments are not doing enough to support the rights of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Her outspoken position has attracted significant support among those who accuse Israeli and US leaders of false accusations of antisemitism in order to silence scrutiny of their policies.
In 2014, Albanese suggested the “Jewish lobby” was influencing US government decisions when it came to Israel and the Palestinians. Critics called her assessment “anti-Semitic”.
However, what Albanese said in 2014 is correct, and widely accepted as fact by political scientists in the U.S. and abroad. In March 2006, John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago’s Department of Political Science and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government wrote a paper published that detailed the U.S. commitment to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the “Israel Lobby.” Their paper goes on to describe the various activities that pro-Israel groups, AIPAC, have undertaken in order to shift U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.
The total number of deaths from starvation and lack of medicine has reached 620. The government media office estimated that 650,000 children and 60,000 pregnant women are at serious risk from malnutrition and lack of healthcare.
In a controversial diplomatic development, Mossad chief David Barnea reportedly proposed a resettlement plan to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, suggesting that Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya receive displaced Palestinians from Gaza. While discussions occurred, no official U.S. commitment was made.
Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump reintroduced the idea of evacuating Gaza’s population and converting the enclave into a “Middle Eastern Riviera.” This proposal was widely condemned internationally, with numerous countries refusing to accept Palestinian refugees.
Global calls for action have intensified amid continued displacement and what many experts now refer to as a genocidal campaign. Over 198,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed or injured. International efforts, including a European Union aid agreement, remain stalled, with critics accusing both Israeli and European actors of political stalling.
The humanitarian situation remains dire. Hospitals are overwhelmed, the food supply is decimated, and Gaza’s people face imminent starvation, displacement, and collapse under siege. Without urgent intervention, the death toll is expected to rise dramatically.
Only the Oval Office and Capitol Hill have the power and authority to end starvation and death in Gaza. But, can they dare stand up to AIPAC?
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
