According to an emergency services official, ten people were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near Rafah.
The civil defense of the Gaza Strip reported at least 16 deaths on Friday, July 11, in several Israeli military operations across the Palestinian territory, devastated by more than twenty-one months of war. According to Mohammad Al-Moughaïr, an official of this organization, ten people were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting to receive humanitarian aid near Rafah, in the south of the enclave.
Six other Palestinians died in aerial bombardments around Khan Younis, also in the south of the coastal strip, according to civil defense, which had earlier reported the death of seven people overnight from Thursday to Friday. Questioned by Agence France-Presse (AFP) about these bombardments, the Israeli army said it was not able to respond immediately.
"Extremely difficult situation"
According to a witness, Israeli armored vehicles were in the Al-Maslakh area, near Khan Younis. "The situation remains extremely difficult in the area: heavy gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery bombardments, as well as the continued destruction by bulldozers of displaced persons' camps and agricultural land to the south, west, and north of Al-Maslakh," said the witness, who asked to remain anonymous to AFP.
The Israeli army stated in a press release that it had recently dismantled "a terrorist cell" in Khan Younis, seizing weapons and military equipment and destroying a tunnel. It also announced that it had killed a leader of Islamic Jihad in Shajaiya, a neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, Fadl Abou Al-Ata, as well as another fighter from the Palestinian armed group. According to the army, Fadl Abou Al-Ata had coordinated "numerous attacks" against Israeli troops and had participated in the October 7, 2023, attack against Israel, which initiated the war.
Given the restrictions imposed on the media by Israel in the Gaza Strip and the difficulties of access to the field, AFP is not able to independently verify the tolls and claims of the various parties.
According to the United Nations (UN), nearly 800 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since May 27 while attempting to obtain aid, the vast majority near the sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial organization supported by the United States and Israel.
Between the start of its operations and July 7, "we recorded 798 people killed, including 615 near GHF sites," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Friday during a press briefing in Geneva. "Most of the injuries are gunshot wounds," she stressed.
The UN and major aid organizations have refused to work with the GHF, stating that it serves Israeli military objectives and violates basic humanitarian principles. GHF distributions have led to chaotic scenes, with the Israeli army repeatedly firing to try to contain hundreds of desperate Palestinians.
The foundation, which uses armed contractors to secure its centers, denies any incident "near" its four distribution sites.
For its part, the Israeli army said on Friday that it had "learned lessons" from fatal incidents reported during food distributions.
Source: Le Monde, 07/11/25