Hamas Accuses Israel of Setting 'Death Traps' at US-Backed Gaza Aid Sites
By Tom O'Connor
Asenior Hamas official has accused Israel of putting Palestinian civilians in harm's way by forcing them to collect humanitarian assistance at U.S.-backed sites, only to be faced with deadly force.
Israeli forces have been accused twice in recent days of opening fire on civilians seeking to receive aid being distributed at a site administered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near the southern city of Rafah. The foundation was established with United States and Israeli support amid Israel's ongoing blockade of other international humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations, which Israel has accused of failing to prevent Hamas from looting supplies.
Israeli officials have so far denied wrongdoing, but Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson Basem Naim argued the incidents were part of a deliberate policy.
"In the context of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, the new Israeli mechanism for distributing humanitarian aid serves to intensify policies of starvation and societal targeting, transforming aid into death traps," Naim said in a statement shared with Newsweek on Tuesday.
He asserted that the mechanism being carried out by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation "forces civilians to move toward dangerous military zones in order to access aid, thereby placing their lives at grave risk."
"This policy has led to the martyrdom of no fewer than 75 Palestinian civilians over the past week while attempting to reach aid distribution points," Naim said, "including 27 martyrs in Rafah on June 3 and 31 martyrs in a similar incident on June 1, in addition to dozens of injuries."
Israel, strike, near, aid
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in southern Gaza, as seen from a humanitarian aid distribution center operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on May 29, 2025. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Conflicting Narratives
The latest incident to occur near a site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation unfolded early Tuesday as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel opened fire near a crowd gathered to collect aid.
The IDF said in a statement that its forces had "identified several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes," prompting troops to carry out "warning fire" around half a kilometer from the aid side. Then, "after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops."
"The IDF is aware of reports regarding casualties, and the details of the incident are being looked into," the statement said, adding that "IDF troops are not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites."
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Gaza's Hamas-led Government Media Office reported Tuesday that 27 people were killed and 90 more were injured, bringing the total number of those killed since the aid sites began operations last week to 102 and the number of wounded to 490.
"We condemn in the strongest terms the perpetration of these massacres against starving civilians, and we hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for these ongoing massacres carried out under the umbrella of 'aid,'" the Government Media Office said, "and we also hold with it the American administration, which supports politically and on the ground this bloody project, directly responsible for the use of food as a weapon in the ongoing war of extermination on Gaza."
The IDF has denied responsibility for Sunday's incident at an aid distribution point in southern Khan Younis, sharing drone footage purporting to show masked Hamas fighters opening fire near the site.
"Hamas is a brutal and murderous terrorist organization that is starving the residents of Gaza," the IDF said in a statement Sunday. "Hamas is doing everything in its power to prevent the successful distribution of food in Gaza."
Tsach Saar, Israel's deputy consul general in New York, also backed the Israeli account during an interview with Newsweek on Monday.
"We saw how local gunmen belonging to Hamas, how they were shooting at people, innocent people who came just to collect just food," Saar said. "This is the enemy that we are dealing with."
He accused those attributing blame to the IDF for that incident of perpetuating a "blood libel" against Israel, while acknowledging that Israeli forces have not gone without error throughout the conflict.
"At the end of the day, we are dealing with a very vicious, sophisticated and brutal enemy," Saar said, "and in a war with this kind of an organization that does not care for the well-being of its own people, that loots its own people's food, it's very difficult."
"And of course, mistakes have been made here and there, but the goal is justified, and it should be," he added. "And when innocent people are getting hurt in Gaza, this is a tragedy, not just for the Palestinians, it's also for the Israelis."
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