On Tuesday, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, including displaced families, widowed mothers, gaunt children, rushed toward a US-Israeli-run food distribution centre on the southern edge of Rafah.
No warnings stopped them. No bullets deterred them. They were driven by hunger, with many walked over ten kilometres in blistering heat. It was not a protest, nor an act of defiance. It was what some called "a final pilgrimage to get a loaf of bread".
From Khan Younis, Mohammed Abu Shaar, 50, arrived drenched in sweat, his voice cracking with thirst and fatigue. "People are dying of starvation. I wouldn't risk my life like this unless I had no choice," he told The New Arab. "My children's bones are showing. I have nothing left to give them."
Amir Abu Shabab, another displaced person from Rafah, was lucky to reach the centre and receive his first food box in two months.
"Today, our dream is a loaf of bread," he told TNA. "I thank those who brought us to this humiliation—because now even the Israelis are feeding us."
His bitterness reflects a growing sentiment among Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom feel abandoned by international actors and their own political leadership.
"We have no electricity, no water, no safety, and no one to speak for us," Abdul Ghafoor Rasem from Deir al-Balah said to TNA. "We are alone, in this line, waiting to survive one more day."
From Nuseirat, Ayman al-Ashi stood trembling with anger against Palestinian leaders. "You've humiliated and tortured us. Our families curse those who left us here to rot," he yelled.
Some of those who headed toward Rafah clutched photographs of children who had died of hunger. Others dragged deactivated aid cards that hadn't brought food in months. Most carried nothing but hope that they would return home with some food this time.
Though the centre, coordinated by US and Israeli authorities, was rejected by international organisations and entities as a form of "political theatre", for countless Palestinians in Gaza, this is now their only lifeline. With the Palestinian Authority absent, Hamas under siege, and humanitarian agencies severely restricted, the people of Gaza have been left to navigate survival alone.
"I know this centre is a 'theatre'," said Ibrahim, who declined to share his surname. "But I can't afford pride. If dignity costs a sack of flour, I'll pay. My kids don't eat dignity."
"Our leaders failed us. They argue in their safe rooms. We starve. They warn us not to come here. Why should I trust warnings from people who left us to hunger in the first place?" he added.
Despite warnings, thousands were pushed into the so-called "buffer zone" around the aid centre. Fear no longer mattered. In a place where people have buried their children and lived through nightly bombings, the risk of being shot or struck by a drone becomes just another grim detail. Hunger is what breaks the soul.
Then came the chaos.
Eyewitnesses said crowds gathered hours before the scheduled 9:00 a.m. distribution. With no organised system in place, people surged forward. Stampedes broke out. American guards reportedly fired into the air and possibly inside the compound, causing panic and confusion.
According to Israel's Channel 13, the Israeli military intervened to evacuate foreign staff by helicopter. The crowd stormed the facility, tore down parts of its wall, and seized food packages in a frantic rush.
Palestinian sources described the scene as one of total collapse. Israeli officials later expressed concern over the "tragic consequences" of the operation.
In a press statement, Hamas accused Israel of turning food into a weapon of war, one component of what it calls a "genocidal campaign of starvation."
Gaza's Government Media Office condemned the incident as a "disastrous failure," accusing Tel Aviv of executing a policy of "systematic starvation."
The office called for the immediate opening of crossings, the resumption of unfettered humanitarian aid, and establishing international investigations into humanitarian law violations.
Hamas also announced a wave of international solidarity rallies on 30, 31 May and 1 June, urging people around the world to gather in public squares and demand an end to the blockade and starvation tactics.
Israel's war on Gaza—now entering its 19th month since 7 October 2023—has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and injured over 123,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
A brief ceasefire in January had offered a flicker of hope, but talks broke down in March. Since then, Israeli military attacks resumed, leaving Gaza's population to navigate a humanitarian wasteland.
Rafah, once the last relative refuge in the south, is now empty. Its security forces are flooded with tents and crumbling under the weight of displaced masses. What remains are miles—long lines of people seeking bread in a place that no longer feels like home.
"This is not life. This is waiting for death. One hunger pang at a time," Ghada Qudaih, a young mother based in Khan Younis, said while cradling her baby beneath the harsh sun.