‘When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are to possess and drives out the many nations larger and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, show them no mercy, and do not save alive anything that breathes, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God who has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession…’ –Book of Deuteronomy
An Israeli drone attack on an aid convoy in southern Gaza killed at least 15 people, including several aid workers and aid guards, compounding a worsening hunger crisis in the enclave.
The strike on Thursday has also left more than 30 people injured, including some in critical condition, west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to people in the area and local media, a number of those killed were aid guards who were present to prevent lootings and chaos from arising at distribution points.
Nasser Banat, whose son and son-in-law were guarding aid before they were killed in the attacks, told Middle East Eye that ‘the Israeli army targets such convoys because they want people to steal the aid packages, and to keep the chaos ongoing,’ he said.
One woman told MEE that she ‘heard the bomb, and thought ‘my son has died, my son is martyred’,’ adding that her son, Maher Rizq al-Farah, was killed on the day of his wedding.
Doa Sheikh al-Eid, a woman who lost her father, Khaled, recalls how he was killed by shrapnel.
‘His whole life, he had his head held high,’ she said, adding that he was present during the attack to guard the aid convoy and to prevent looting’.
‘They took him away from me, they took him away from me… My whole life, I have prayed that I’m not put in this position,’ she cried, not knowing how she will be able to support her family after her father’s killing.
This is the latest in Israel’s targeted attacks against humanitarian convoys and aid workers. Over the weekend, deadly attacks across Gaza were reported, with one case of strikes targeting a flour distribution line in the southern city of Rafah.
‘The occupation once again targeted those securing the aid trucks,’ Mahmoud Basal, the Palestinian Civil Defence spokesman, told AFP, noting that about 30 people, mostly children, were also wounded in the attacks.
‘The occupation aims to destroy all services for citizens across the Gaza Strip.’
Since dawn on Thursday, 35 civilians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency reported.
According to Al Jazeera, six people, including children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a residential building in Gaza City in the early hours of Thursday morning, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 13 following Israel’s bombing of a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
Food security across Gaza is collapsing, leaving people in a ‘state of sheer desperation’, according to a new report by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The agency indicated that there are several problems hindering humanitarian supplies from entering into Gaza, including ‘deteriorating law and order, war and insecurity, damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and access restrictions’.
Additionally, the entire population of Gaza remains at risk of famine and is currently experiencing an ’emergency’ level of acute food insecurity, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in late October.
The new UN-backed assessment added that the obstruction of humanitarian access and the intensity of the bombing campaign has significantly increased the risk of famine for residents in northern Gaza as food, water, fuel and medical supplies dwindle.
‘Between November 2024 and April 2025, almost two million people, more than 90 percent of the population, are classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or above, of which 345,000 people (16 percent) are in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5), and 876,000 people (41 percent) in Emergency (IPC Phase 4),’ the IPC said.
The IPC classifies the most extreme warning as Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine.
Um Mohammed al-Sonbaree, who lost her cousin in the attack, told MEE: ‘Of course, they [Israelis] targeted them. They want the people to stay hungry, they want us to kill one another. But God is with us, God is great… God will not forget us.’
An estimated 60,000 cases of acute malnutrition among young children were expected between September 2024 and August 2025, it added.
Ghada Muhammad Ismail Zorob told MEE that due to the lack of food, her son, 19-year-old Hassan Adel Zorob, had gone to the aid distribution point to collect flour against her wishes.
‘He ran out like a maniac, threw himself at death, for a bag of flour to feed his mother and father’.
‘I don’t know what happened to my son. Is he missing, held hostage? Martyred? I don’t know what happened to him’.
‘What did these children do to deserve this? A 19-year-old, what did he do? He carried a bag of flour back to feed his family. What did he do to deserve this?’
‘Hunger and disease are rampant’
For over 13 months, Israeli authorities have maintained a tight block on Gaza, allowing less than the minimum requirement of the daily supply of food, water, electricity and medicine.
Philippe Lazzarini, the general commissioner of UNRWA, raised concern over the worsening humanitarian disaster in the enclave.
‘We are running out of words. Hunger and disease are rampant,’ he said in a post on X.
‘Humanitarians must be enabled to do their job. Hurdles to aid must be removed without further delay, otherwise more lives will be lost. This keeps testing our shared humanity.’
Israeli forces have murdered more than 44,805 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, and wounded more than 106,257 people, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local officials. Thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble.