At least 27 Palestinians were killed and over 180 injured on Saturday, July 12, when Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a crowd of civilians waiting for humanitarian aid near the Al-Shakoush aid distribution point, north of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to local sources. Medical sources affirmed that the total death toll across Gaza has risen to 60 since the early hours of Saturday, due to ongoing Israeli shelling and gunfire in multiple areas of the besieged enclave.

At least 798 people have been killed while trying to receive food aid in Gaza since the end of May, the United Nations Human Rights Office says. Of the total number of people killed while receiving food assistance since May 27, 615 were in the vicinity of sites operated by the controversial US-Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF), a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) tells reporters. The UN human rights office said on Friday that, according to its records, in the past six weeks at least 798 people have been killed at aid points run by GHF and near humanitarian aid convoys run by other relief groups, including the UN. The other 183 were killed on the routes of aid convoys, the spokesperson says.

According to Zo Haderekh, the GHF has faced harsh criticism in Israel, abroad and from the UN and other aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazans have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.

Anti-occupation activists protest in front the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on July 11, 2025, against the planned concentration camp in Rafah and calling for an end to the war in Gaza (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Zo Haderekh also reported on the plans presented by Israel’s defense establishment to expel the population of Gaza in a “humanitarian city”. This concentration camp constitutes a blatantly illegal order, 16 Israeli experts in international law and the laws of war warned Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz and the Israel army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in a public letter issued Friday. In the letter, the experts warned that implementation of the plan would constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity. They said that under certain conditions, it could also be considered genocide. “We call on all relevant parties to publicly withdraw from the plan, renounce it and refrain from carrying it out,” they wrote.

On Friday morning, two protesters were arrested in front of Defense Minister home in Kfar Ahim, in southern Israel, during a demonstration against his proposal to establish a “humanitarian city” in Rafah for Gaza’s population. According to the “Meshanim Kivun” (Changing Direction) movement, which initiated the protest, the two were violently arrested, and other protesters were forcibly pushed away. Other protest was held Friday afternoon outside the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem against the planned concentration camp and starvation and calling for an end to the war in Gaza. A third protest was held at the same time in South Tel-Aviv. A women’s vigil against starvation and occupation gathered at the Lewinsky Market. They were attacked by a group of fascists.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32822