IDF publishes drone video of gunmen shooting at Gazans

The Israeli military says the drone video shows Palestinian gunmen and other masked Palestinians opening fire at Gazans heading to collect humanitarian aid in Khan Younis.

The video appears to show Palestinian gunmen firing on Gazans. Picture: X.

The Israeli military has published drone video it says shows Palestinian gunmen and other masked Palestinians opening fire and throwing stones at Gazans heading to collect humanitarian aid in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The IDF does not explicitly say that the armed men are members of Hamas says in a post on X: “Hamas does everything it can to prevent the success of the food distribution in Gaza.”

“Hamas is a murderous and brutal terror organisation that starves the residents of Gaza,” the post adds.

תיעוד רחפן חושף: חמושים בעזה יורים לעבר אזרחים עזתים בדרכם לאסוף סיוע הומניטרי

תיעוד מרחפן של צה״ל שצולם מוקדם יותר היום (א׳), חושף חמושים ורעולי פנים, משליכים אבנים ויורים לעבר עזתים שמנסים לאסוף סיוע הומניטרי שנבזז בדרום חאן יונס.

חמאס הוא ארגון טרור רצחני ואכזרי שמרעיב את… pic.twitter.com/q95TUoS0DK

— צבא ×”×”×’× ×” לישראל (@idfonline) June 1, 2025

The video is unrelated to the deadly incident near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Sunday, in which 31 Palestinians were killed according to Hamas authorities.

Witnesses said Israeli forces fired toward the crowds just before dawn around a kilometre from an aid site run by an Israeli-backed foundation.

The Israeli Defence Forces denied its troops fired at civilians near or within the site. An Israeli military official said troops fired warning shots at several suspects advancing toward them overnight.

“IDF troops worked to prevent a number of suspects from approaching the forces,” the official told The Times of Israel. “During the activity, warning shots were fired at a number of suspects who approached the forces.”

“There is no connection between the incident in question and the false allegations against the IDF,” added the official.

In a statement, the IDF said: “at this time, we are unaware of injuries caused by IDF troops’ fire within the [humanitarian aid] distribution site” in Rafah. It added that the matter was under review.

Last week Israel blamed Hamas for orchestrating pandemonium at two food distribution sites in Gaza and accused the United Nations of using “intimidation” to stop NGOs from working with a new US-backed foundation.

Israel’s United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon told the UN Security Council Hamas had set up roadblocks and checkpoints to block access to the distribution centre,

Israeli media also reported the militant group had threatened Palestinians they would “pay the price” if they co-operated with the Gaza Humanitrian Foundation, and told Palestinians to stay home, claiming Israel was using the company to collect intelligence information.

“Do not go to Rafah. Do not fall into the trap. Do not risk your lives. Your homes are your fortress. Staying in your neighbourhoods is survival, and awareness is your protection,” a statement published by the Hamas-linked Home Front said.

Mr Danon also accused the UN of “spreading panic,” saying the organisation was “using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism.”

After the Rafah incident on Sunday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement it delivered aid “without incident,” and released a separate video it said was shot Sunday at the site that appeared to show people collecting aid. The foundation has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent media has no access.

Another libel, another lie exposed.

The media did not waste breath to blindly parrot Hamas propaganda, about manufactured massacre at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center.

GHF then release video from time of alleged attack (see below), showing no shooting and no… pic.twitter.com/JWQd1Lpq64

— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) June 1, 2025

It was the deadliest incident yet around the new aid distribution system, which has operated for less than a week.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement its field hospital in Rafah received 179 casualties including women and children, 21 of them declared dead upon arrival, the majority with gunshot or shrapnel wounds. It was unclear if any of the dead were militants.

“All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” the ICRC said, calling it the highest number of “weapon-wounded” people in a single incident since the hospital was set up over a year ago.

“Aid distribution has become a death trap,” the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered that more aid sites be established — and that troops' ground operation be expanded in unspecified parts of northern and southern Gaza.

Multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's sites. Before Sunday, 17 people were killed while trying to reach them, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.

The foundation says private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on crowds. Israel's military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.

The foundation said in a statement it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday “without incident,” and dismissed what it described as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.” UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles.

Thousands of people headed toward the distribution site hours before dawn. As they approached, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1 kilometre away, at around 3am, Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said.

“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd.

He said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded. “The scene was horrible," he said.

Most people were shot “in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest," said Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a Health Ministry official at Nasser Hospital, where many were transferred from the Red Cross field hospital. A colleague, surgeon Khaled al-Ser, said 150 wounded people had arrived, along with 28 bodies.

The hospital corridors were filled with patients, "but unlike what I have witnessed before, where most of the patients were women and children, today it was mainly men,” a spokesperson with medical charity MSF, Nour Alsaqa, said in a statement.

Gaza's Health Ministry said least 31 people were killed and over 170 were wounded.

Later Sunday, Israeli artillery shells struck tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, killing three and wounding at least 30, according to Nasser Hospital.

The UN says new aid system violates humanitarian principles Israel and the U.S. say the new system is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided evidence of systematic diversion, and the U.N. denies it has occurred.

U.N. agencies and major aid groups say the new system allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the coastal territory.

“It's essentially engineered scarcity," Jonathan Whittall, interim head in Gaza of the U.N. humanitarian office, said last week.

AP