Calls to shut down GHF grow after deadly Gaza 'Witkoff Massacre'

Aid agencies and rights groups have condemned Israel and its partner food distribution organisation after dozens of starving Palestinians were gunned down while waiting for food on Sunday.

At least 32 people were shot dead and more than 200 others injured at two sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-Israeli-backed organisation attempting to take control of aid delivery from the UN.

Eyewitnesses said Israeli drones and tanks had opened fire on the crowds outside a facility near Rafah, while doctors at nearby field hospitals reported a huge influx of casualties with gunshot wounds.

"Patients told [Doctors Without Borders] they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks, and Israeli soldiers on the ground," the humanitarian medical organisation wrote in a statement, calling GHF's system "dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective".

The Red Cross reported an influx of 179 casualties at its Rafah field hospital on Sunday, the majority of whom had suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds.

"This is the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago," it said.

GHF denied that anyone was killed near its facilities and claimed the reports from eyewitnesses and doctors were "fake". The Israeli military denied firing on civilians.

The incident was quickly termed the 'Witkoff Massacre' by pro-Palestine social media accounts, named after Trump's Middle East envoy, who championed Israel's plan to take over Gaza's aid delivery system.

"Another massacre committed by the Israeli occupation, targeting US-supervised aid distribution points in Gaza, leaving martyrs and dozens of injured civilians #WitkoffMassacre," Ramy Abdul, head of rights monitor Euro-Med, wrote in a post on X.

Eyewitnesses interviewed by Euro-Med reported that Israeli quadcopters and tanks opened fire on the aid seekers at around 0600am on Sunday as they waited to receive food at the Rafah site.

One person described how a drone began firing on the crowd after warning it not to approach the fence.

"The occupation forces began shelling the area indiscriminately, turning the scene into a horrific massacre. At the same time, American security personnel fired tear gas at those in the back to disperse them and keep them away," they said.

Footage from GHF sites has gone viral online, showing a chaotic free-for-all as thousands of people desperately try to reach boxes of food under the gaze of American mercenaries.

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, compared the system to the Hunger Games following Sunday's massacre.

"These real-life Hunger Games must end, a new cease-fire declared, and Israel must allow access across all crossings to the normal, global humanitarian system," he wrote on social media.

Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, called Israel's hijacking of Gaza's aid system "appalling, indefensible, criminal".

"The Israeli government is weaponising aid and all involved with the GHF are abetting war crimes," he wrote on X. "Shut it down."