Nearly 100 people killed seeking aid in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian officials say

At least 94 Palestinians were killed by Israeli military fire across Gaza on Sunday as they tried to get food aid, according to local health authorities and hospital morgue officials, in one of the deadliest days in recent months for those seeking assistance.

The deadliest incident occurred in northern Gaza, near the Israeli border area of Zikim, where at least 81 Palestinians were killed as they tried to grab sacks of flour for bread from U.N. World Food Programme trucks entering from Israel.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli military forces had “targeted civilians waiting for humanitarian aid” north of Beit Lahia. The organization said a Gaza City field hospital it operates had received 95 people with injuries, some of whom were in critical condition.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops encountered thousands of Palestinians gathered in northern Gaza and “fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them.”

The Israeli military said it was examining the incident but that an “initial review suggests that the number of casualties reported does not align with the information held by the IDF.”

Since May, the WFP has been delivering food aid to Gaza in a separate program from the U.S. and Israeli-backed food distribution system. Many of the WFP aid trucks have been looted by armed gangs and hungry crowds as they enter Gaza.

In a statement, the WFP said its 25-truck convoy had been released from checkpoints to enter Gaza Sunday morning when it encountered massive crowds of “hungry civilians” and then came under fire.

“WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable,” the group said. “We continue to call for the protection of all civilians and aid workers delivering life-saving assistance.”

Sunday was one of the deadliest days Gaza health officials have recorded in recent months for Palestinians seeking aid amid severe food shortages and widespread hunger.

Among them was Hassan Abu Marasah, who was wounded in his head and leg from Israeli tank fire in northern Gaza and was being treated at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

“Hunger makes you desperate,” he cried. “I have no food at home. I went out to feed my kids. And this is what happened to me.”

Also on Sunday, Israel announced new evacuations in a part of central Gaza where it said its military had not operated before.

People in the southwestern part of Deir al-Balah, a city about 10 miles southwest of Gaza City, were urged to leave for their safety, according to a post on X by Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson for Arab media.

Adraee told anyone nearby, “including those inside the tents located in the area,” to evacuate south toward Al-Mawasi, in the post translated from Arabic.

In a subsequent post on X, Adraee urged people not to return to a number of areas in northern Gaza — including “Beit Lahia, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, Shuja’iyya, Daraj, Old City, Tuffah, Zaytoun, and their neighborhoods.”

He said the areas were “dangerous combat zones” and said the IDF was operating there “with extreme intensity.”

Pope Leo XIV, speaking on Sunday, mourned the deaths of three people sheltering at the Holy Family church in Gaza City and called for an “immediate halt to the barbarity” in Gaza.

NPR’s Anas Baba reported from Gaza City.