Devastating stampede at Gaza aid hub 'sees 19 Palestinians trampled to death'

A devastating stampede at an aid hub in war-torn Gaza is said to have left 19 Palestinians trampled to death.

The tragedy came after the UN earlier recorded almost 900 “desperate and hungry Gazans” have been killed in the stricken enclave seeking food in recent weeks. As many as 19 people were trampled on Wednesday with another fatally stabbed in violence at the site, according to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

It comes as Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 kids, according to hospital officials. GHF, whose operations have stoked controversy with over 170 charities and other NGOs calling for it to be shut, accused militant group Hamas of fomenting panic and spreading misinformation leading to the violence.

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It marks the first time the Israeli-backed US group has acknowledged deadly violence at its operations. GHF workers used tear gas against the crowd, inciting a panic, Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses claimed. The incident occurred at a distribution hub in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The crowd panicked after receiving messages that no aid would be distributed or would only be given out later, some witnesses said. And others said people became trapped while trying to move through a turnstile system, which creates a bottleneck.

A resident of the nearby city of Rafah said people were gasping for air, possibly from tear gas. The injuries were "not from gunfire, but from people clustering and pushing against each other," Omar Al-Najjar said as he carried, with three other men, an injured stranger to a hospital. He said the chaos at the sites is forcing Palestinians to "march towards death."

"They used stun grenades and pepper spray against us," Abdullah Aleyat, who was at the GHF site on Wednesday morning, said. "When they saw people killing each other, they opened the gate and people stepped over each other and suffocated," Aleyat explained, standing in a hospital room with some of the injured.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City, including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said it had struck over 120 targets in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas military infrastructure of tunnels and weapons storage facilities.

On Tuesday, the UN disclosed figures showing its recorded death toll for Palestinians seeking food since May. “As of 13 July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. And the other 201 were killed seeking food “on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys” run by the UN or its partners still operating in Gaza, the spokesperson explained.

Claims emerged last month that Israeli troops deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid sites in Gaza. It was alleged troops were ordered to shoot at crowds despite posing no threat. But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister, Israel Katz, rejected respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz’s report.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced the opening of a fourth corridor – bisecting the city of Khan Younis – where troops have seized land in what they said is a pressure tactic against Hamas. Last week, US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu held two days of talks ending with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023, which killed about 1,200 people – with 251 hostages taken. Israel’s offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.