20 Dead In Gaza Aid Site Tragedy Amid Conflicting Accounts

At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday during a stampede at an aid distribution center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. The incident has sparked outrage and conflicting narratives over what led to the deadly chaos.

The GHF, a U.S.-backed organization that operates with Israeli support, said the crowd surge was triggered by “armed agitators” allegedly affiliated with Hamas. According to the group, 19 people were trampled and one person was fatally stabbed amid the panic.
“We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd, armed and affiliated with Hamas, deliberately fomented the unrest,” GHF said in a statement.

Hamas quickly rejected the claim, calling it “false and misleading,” and instead blamed both the GHF and the Israeli military for the fatal incident.
Eyewitness accounts paint a chaotic picture. Mahmoud Fojo, a 21-year-old who survived the crush, told Reuters that security guards at the center locked the gates, trapping people between the entry and a perimeter fence. “People kept gathering and pressuring each other,” he said.

“When people pushed each other, those who couldn’t stand fell under the people and were crushed.”
Other witnesses said guards used pepper spray to control the crowd, exacerbating the panic.

Local Palestinian health officials reported that 21 people died, most from suffocation and trampling. One medic on site described the area as severely overcrowded, with little room for movement or ventilation.
The United Nations has expressed growing concern over the increasing number of civilian casualties near aid centers in Gaza. On Tuesday, the UN rights office in Geneva reported at least 875 deaths near food distribution points in Gaza over the past six weeks, many of them close to GHF-operated sites.

While locals have blamed many of those deaths on Israeli gunfire, the Israeli military has admitted to civilian casualties and said it has issued revised instructions based on “lessons learned.”

The GHF has become a focal point in the debate over humanitarian access in Gaza. The group uses U.S. private contractors to deliver aid, largely bypassing the UN-led aid system, which Israel alleges has been exploited by Hamas militants. Hamas denies those claims.

The UN and several humanitarian agencies have criticized the GHF’s methods, calling them unsafe and a violation of established humanitarian neutrality. The GHF has denied wrongdoing, defending its operations as necessary and effective.
Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, accused the GHF of “gross mismanagement,” citing a lack of organization, limited aid, and unsafe crowd control practices. “People who flock in their thousands are hungry and exhausted, and they get squeezed into narrow places,” he said.

As Gaza continues to face one of the worst humanitarian crises in its history, Wednesday’s tragedy underscores the deadly consequences of mismanaged aid distribution and the urgent need for coordination, safety, and accountability.