"Gaza aid teams swamped by deadly chaos at food distribution points"

Medical personnel and aid workers in Gaza report being overwhelmed by frequent mass casualty incidents as they struggle to treat those wounded during aid distribution efforts.

Healthcare workers say many of the injured describe being shot while attempting to reach food distribution points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization backed by the U.S. and Israel that began providing supplies in late May. Others have been hurt in large crowds forming around UN convoys, some of which are stopped and looted.

Dr. Mohammed Saqr, nursing director at Khan Younis’s Nasser Medical Complex, stated that he has personally witnessed numerous mass casualty events in recent weeks.

“The situation is deeply distressing—it resembles scenes of unimaginable devastation. At times, within just 30 minutes, we admit over 100 to 150 cases, including severe injuries and fatalities… Nearly 95% of these casualties originate from the so-called ‘American food distribution centers,’” Saqr said.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, 640 people have been killed and more than 4,500 wounded between 27 May and 2 July while seeking aid. These numbers have further stretched an already overburdened healthcare system.

“Every hospital bed is occupied, and these additional injuries place an impossible strain on our resources. Patients are being treated on emergency room floors… Most injuries are gunshot wounds to the head or chest. Some arrive with amputated limbs,” Saqr told *CuriosityNews*.

Hospitals are also handling casualties from Israeli airstrikes, which have killed and wounded many, even as efforts continue to establish a ceasefire that could end the conflict and secure the release of Israeli hostages. On Wednesday, officials in Gaza reported between 20 and 44 fatalities.

In Qatar, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas entered a fourth day without progress, though Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, described an agreement as “achievable.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that its teams in Gaza have observed a sharp rise in mass casualty incidents tied to aid distribution over the past month.

Since the introduction of the new food distribution system—which Israel claims is necessary to prevent diversion of aid—the ICRC’s 60-bed field hospital in Rafah has treated more than 2,200 weapon-related injuries and recorded over 200 deaths.

“The scale and frequency of these events are unprecedented. In little over a month, the number of cases has exceeded the total from all mass casualty incidents in the previous year,” the ICRC said.

“Among the wounded are children, the elderly, women—and overwhelmingly, young men and boys.”