Khan Younis, Gaza – Yazan Musleh, 13, is in a hospital bed installed in a tent on the field of Nasser Hospital, her t-shirt stopped to reveal a large white bandage in his thin torso.
Besides him, his father, Ihab, sits with common, always shaken by bloody dawn that he and his sons lived on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of people gathered to receive aid from the humanitarian foundation (GHF), supported by the United States, supported by the United States (GHF).
Ihab, 40, had taken Yazan and his 15-year-old brother, Yazid, their refuge in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, at the Rafah distribution point that the GHF operates.
They left before dawn, walking for about an hour and a half to go to the Al-Alam roundabout in Rafah, near the distribution point.
Worried about the size of the rally and hungry crowd, Ihab told his sons to wait for him on an altitude near the GHF doors.
“When I looked behind the hill, I saw several tanks not far,” he says. “A feeling of terror came to me. What if they opened fire or something happened? I prayed for the protection of God. “
While the crowd was getting closer to the doors, heavy shots broke out of all directions.
“I was terrified. I immediately looked towards my sons on the hill and saw Yazan get shot, ”he recalls.
Yazid, also seated in his brother’s bedside, describes moments of terror.
“We were on the hill as our Father told us, and suddenly, the tanks opened fire.” He said. “My brother was immediately hit in the stomach.”
“I saw his intestines overflow – it was horrible. Then people helped to rush it to the hospital in a donkey cart. ”
At the edge of the doors, Ihab had trouble reaching his sons, trying to fight against the crowd while avoiding the sounding gunshots.
“The shot came from all directions – tanks, quadcopters.
“I saw people help my son, finally doing him shooting him.”
When Ihab managed to move away from the crowd, he ran the best that his malnutrition body could manage, to the Nasser hospital, in the hope that Yazan had been taken there. It was like more than an hour, he said.
At Nasser Hospital, he learned that Yazan had been interrupted.
“I finally breathed. I thanked God that he was still alive. I had completely lost hope, ”he said.
The ball that struck Yazan had torn his intestines and his spleen, and doctors say he needs long and intensive treatment.
Sitting near him is his mother, Iman, who desperately asks why whoever drew on people who would try to take food. She and Ihab have five children, the youngest is a seven -month -old girl.
“I went to get food for my children. Hunger kills us, ”explains Ihab.
“These help distributions are known to be degrading and humiliating – but we are desperate. I am desperate because my children die of hunger, and even then, are we slaughtered? ”
He had tried to get help once before, he said, but twice, he left empty-handed.
“The first time there was a fatal jostling. We barely escaped. This time, my son was injured and still … Nothing, “he says.
But he knows that he cannot stop trying.
“I will risk it for my family. Either I come back alive, or I die. I am desperate. Hunger kills us. “
The group distributing aid
The GHF, marketed as a neutral humanitarian mechanism, was launched at the beginning of 2025 and used private American military entrepreneurs to “secure distribution points”.
The head of the GHF, Jake Wood, resigned from his post two days before the start of the distribution, invoking concerns that the foundation is not impartial or would not act in accordance with humanitarian principles.
Five days later, on May 30, the Boston Consulting Group, which was part of the planning and implementation of the Foundation, withdrew its team and ended its association with GHF.
International aid organizations were unanimous in criticizing the GHF and its methods.
“We went to get food for our hungry children”
Lied nearby in the tent room is Mohammed al-Homs, 40, father of five children.
He also left early Sunday to try to get food for his family, but a few moments after my arrival at the Al-Alam roundabout, “I was shot twice-once in my leg and once in my mouth, breaking my front teeth,” he said.
“I collapsed, there were so many injured and dead around me. Everyone was crying and running. Shops came from tanks, drones everywhere. It was like the end of the world. “
He made bleeding on the ground during what looked like an hour, because the medical teams could not reach the injured.
Then, the word spread that the doors had opened up to the distribution, and those who could move began to go to the center.
It was not until the moment that people could start to move the wounded to a nearby medical point.
“It was the first time I was trying to get help, and it will be my last,” said Mohammed.
“I did not expect to survive. We went to get food for our hungry children and we met drones and tanks. ”
“ I never imagined that I would face death for a box of food ”
On May 27, was also in the tent that had managed to obtain a help package on the first day of distribution, and decided to try again on Sunday: Khaled al-Lahham, 36.
Al-Lahham takes care of 10 family members: his parents, a aunt and seven brothers and sisters, who are all moved to the al-mawasi tents.
He had managed to take a tour with five friends that morning, driving as close as they could at the Al-Alam roundabout.
As the distribution time approaches, the six friends began to get out of the car.
“Suddenly, there were noisy shots all around and people were screaming. I felt acute pain in my leg – a ball had passed clean through my thigh, “explains Khaled, who did not completely get it out of the car.
“I shouted and bleed while the people around me ran and shouted. The shooting was frantic, ”he adds. “There were tanks, quadcopters – fire came from all directions.”
Injured, Khaled could not get out of the car and snuggle up to one of his friends managed to return and drive him to the hospital.
“I never imagined that I face death for a food box,” says Khaled.
“If they don’t want to distribute help, why do they lie to people and kill them like that?”
“All of this is deliberate. Humiliate us, degrade us, then kill us-for food? ”
