STORY: At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday (July 16) at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in what the U.S.-backed group said was a crowd surge instigated by armed agitators.

The GHF, which is supported by Israel, said 19 people were trampled and one fatally stabbed during the crush at one of its centres in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

"We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest," GHF said in a statement.

Hamas rejected the GHF allegation as "false and misleading," blaming the incident on the GHF and Israel's military.

Witnesses told Reuters that guards at the site sprayed pepper gas at them after they had locked the gates to the centre, trapping them between the gates and the outer wire-fence.

“People kept gathering and pressuring each other; when people pushed each other...those who couldn’t stand fell under the people and were crushed," said eyewitness Mahmoud Fojo, 21, who was hurt in the stampede.

"Some people started jumping over the netted fence and got wounded," he added.

There has been no immediate comment by the GHF or Israeli army on eyewitness accounts.

Palestinian health officials told Reuters that 21 people had died of suffocation at the site. One medic said lots of people had been crammed into a small space and had been crushed.

On Tuesday (July 15), the U.N. rights office in Geneva said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks in the vicinity of aid sites and food convoys in Gaza - the majority of them close to GHF distribution points.

Most of those deaths were caused by gunfire that locals have blamed on the Israeli military. The military has acknowledged that Palestinian civilians were harmed near aid distribution centres, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions with "lessons learned."

The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the accusation.

The U.N. has called the GHF’s model unsafe and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards - an allegation GHF has denied.

The war in Gaza, triggered in October 2023 by a deadly Hamas attack on Israel, has displaced almost all of the territory's population and led to widespread hunger and privation.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, by Israeli tallies.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Palestinian eyewitnesses recount crush at Gaza aid site that killed at least 20

VIDEO SHOWS: VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS CARRYING CASUALTIES INTO NASSER HOSPITAL IN GAZA'S KHAN YOUNIS / WOUNDED IN THE HOSPITAL / PEOPLE CARRYING BODIES AND PERFORMING FUNERAL PRAYERS / COMMENTS FROM EYEWITNESSES AND CIVIL DEFENCE PERSONNEL ABOUT THE INCIDENT THAT KILLED AT LEAST 20 PALESTINIANS AT AN AID DISTRIBUTION SITE

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.

RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT.

SHOWS: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 16, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PEOPLE CARRYING CASUALTIES OFF TRUCK INTO NASSER HOSPITAL

2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING CASUALTIES, PUTTING THEM ON THE FLOOR

3. MAN STANDING ON TRUCK YELLING / PEOPLE CARRYING CASUALTIES INTO HOSPITAL / CASUALTIES LAID ON TRUCK / ANOTHER MAN YELLING

4. CASUALTIES BEING PUSHED ON HOSPITAL STRETCHER

5. PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND CASUALTY LYING ON BED

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EYEWITNESS WHO WAS WOUNDED, MAHMOUD FOJO, 21, SAYING:

“We went to the aid (distribution point) at 6 (AM). When we entered, we found that they are closing the gates. People gathered at the gates and the netted fence was closed. People kept gathering and pressuring each other; when people pushed each other, those who couldn’t bear fell down under the people and got run over, those who couldn’t stand fell under the people and were crushed. Some people started jumping over the netted fence and got wounded."

7. FOJO’S HAND

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EYEWITNESS WHO WAS WOUNDED, MAHMOUD FOJO, 21, SAYING:

“People were pushing from the back, people were pushing from the back and in the front, there are nets. Either you get crushed, either you get crushed and die or you can’t get out. You only had two options, either to die or to get injured, these were the only two options at this moment.”

9. INJURED MAN LYING ON HOSPITAL FLOOR, BEING ATTENDED TO BY MEDIC

10. TWO INJURED MEN SITTING ON FLOOR, ONE OF THEM CRYING

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EYEWITNESS WHO WAS WOUNDED, AHMAD ABOU OMRA, 22, SAYING:

“Tight passages and each one of them was standing with their weapons and standing watching us, firing at us pepper bombs while we were strangling down and they pushed us down... People there were not humans at all, this is not even hunger, this is foolishness, useless foolishness... We went to get aid and leave, because the flour’s price reached 60-70 shekels ($17.8-$20.8), no one is affording to buy it and there’s no cash in the country, the cash is not available, no one has it, people have money, but they don’t have cash to buy goods. We stayed, people come, they don’t pull you, no, they beat us, all of the wounds at my face, I was fine when I was down (on ground), all of the wounds on my face are from people who come and beat, I was beaten on my head three times, while they were walking and running over us.”

12. VARIOUS OF INJURED MAN LYING ON HOSPITAL FLOOR, IN PAIN

13. INJURED MAN LYING ON FLOOR, WITH VENTILATOR ON HIS FACE

14.PEOPLE SITTING ON HOSPITAL FLOOR

15. PEOPLE CARRYING CASUALTY

16. PEOPLE CARRYING BODY IN WHITE BODY BAG

17. PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND BODIES IN BODY BAGS, PLACED ON GROUND

18. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EYEWITNESS, ABDALLAH ALYAN, 19, SAYING:

“There was pressure, people were... This young man, who was martyred, was next to me. He was begging the American, telling him ‘please, just fire one shot to scare people away, I’m dying,’ and he was not responding, saying, ‘stay here’ and pointing with his hand. He told him, ‘stay,’ he didn’t agree at all. This aid, I swear to God, is a trap, this is not aid. They fire at us, they throw bombs at us, spray us with pepper spray to burn our eyes.”

19. GIRL CRYING

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EYEWITNESS, ABDALLAH ALYAN, 19, SAYING:

“The alternative is to open the (border) crossing, let the goods in so the prices go down in the market, this is the alternative for these aid, this is the alternative, open the crossing and everything will be cheaper in the market... They are depending on this aid... [inaudible] for the livelihood at the trap, the trap of the Jews (Israelis). The tanks would be next to us and the soldiers next to us; they say they are far away, they are just next to us, the army.”

21. MAN YELLING, SAYING (Arabic): “Look at Gaza, Gaza is dying from hunger, killing and siege.”

22. PEOPLE CARRYING BODY IN BODY BAG

23. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN CIVIL DEFENCE MEMBER, AZZEDINE ABOU SABHA, SAYING:

“The civil defence of Khan Younis got notified about a large number of martyrs and a large number of injuries in the areas of aid distribution, called Shakoush. When our teams went to the location, we pulled a number of martyrs, around 20 martyrs arrived at the morgue of Nasser (hospital). They were pulled out by the ambulances of the (Red) Crescent, the ambulances of the health (ministry) and the ambulances of the civil defence.”

24. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PRAYING OVER BODIES IN BODY BAGS ON THE GROUND