GazaHerald – A new tragedy struck Gaza on Wednesday morning, as at least 20 Palestinian civilians, including children, were killed in a horrifying incident near a US aid distribution center north of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Most of the victims died of suffocation after being caught in a stampede triggered by the closure of the center’s gate and the firing of gas bombs into the crowd.
According to medical sources and eyewitnesses, the incident took place at Al-Tina Street in northwestern Rafah. Thousands of desperate civilians had gathered near the American-run aid center in hopes of receiving food and supplies.
Eyewitnesses say U.S. soldiers stationed at the site closed the main gate as the crowd swelled, then fired gas bombs into the densely packed group, sparking panic and causing dozens to collapse from suffocation. Nineteen of the victims died in the stampede, unable to escape the narrow, enclosed area.
The dead and injured were transferred to the overwhelmed Nasser Medical Center in Khan Yunis, where harrowing scenes unfolded. Hospital corridors and floors were lined with bodies as morgues reached capacity, a grim reminder of Gaza’s collapsing health infrastructure under relentless siege and bombardment.
Media reports indicate that most of the victims were children. Footage from the hospital showed grieving families searching for their loved ones amid rows of covered bodies.
 875 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid sites
The Gaza Government Media Office stated that this massacre brings the total number of victims killed or wounded near so-called “aid centers,” to 805 dead, 5,252 wounded, and 42 missing.
While families mourned in Rafah, Israeli warplanes and helicopters continued bombarding other areas across the besieged Strip. In the central Gaza Strip, occupation aircraft struck Block 9 of the Al-Bureij refugee camp, while Israeli helicopters targeted a residential building belonging to the Abu Zuhair family west of Deir al-Balah.
An early morning airstrike on the Al-Safa tower in the Al-Nuseirat camp left one civilian dead and several others wounded.
Today marks 649 consecutive days of Israel’s war on Gaza, a campaign many Palestinians and rights groups have labeled a genocide. Yet international silence, especially from governments backing the siege, remains deafening.
