It was just before six in the evening when Abdulrahman al-Assar arrived at the aid distribution point in Al-Tina, southern Gaza. Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, he had dragged himself there out of desperation.
The markets were empty. There was nothing left to buy, even if one had the money to do so.
"There is absolutely nothing," he says. "So I was forced to go live on American aid because of the difficult circumstances we’re in," Abdulrahman tells TRT World in an exclusive interview on the ground.
He wasn't alone. The yard was swelling with people, all starving, exhausted, and waiting for a chance at survival. The area buzzed with anxiety and fatigue. Children clung to their parents. Dust swirled under their feet. Hunger was the only thing stronger than their fear.
Then came the sound of bullets.
"They fired at us, every time we got closer, every time we moved forward, they shot," says Abdulrahman.
"Random fire. Wild and random. We’re running under the bullets. Bullets above us, beside us, in front of our eyes. One person falls to the ground right in front of us."
At that moment, the aid distribution point became a killing field. This wasn’t the first time. But it was one of the deadliest.
On that day alone, July 16th, at least 20 Palestinians were killed while trying to collect food in the besieged enclave – now facing an unprecedented famine due to an Israeli aid blockade.
Others were crushed under the weight of the crowd. Dozens were injured. Some disappeared.
The people had run not out of choice, but out of necessity. At the heart of the chaos was the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-Israel-backed initiative set up in late May to supposedly provide food and supplies.
But Palestinians on the ground say the operation has become a trap. Since its launch, over 1,100 Palestinians have been killed or wounded near these so-called aid centres.
Abdulrahman, 28, from Rafah, is a father and the sole provider for his family of eleven. At home, they have no food.
“No potatoes. We don’t have potatoes. May God provide," he says, his voice shaking. “We just want to survive. Have mercy. We are your people.”
Calling them only to trap and kill them
Abdulrahman recalls how the gates were suddenly shut as the people arrived to collect aid.
"They stopped us and turned us back. We were a large number…many people," he says.
What ensued when the gate was finally opened was total chaos – and a deadly stampede.
People fell as they rushed forward, only to be trampled upon by people behind them. Some were pinned to the barbed-wire fencing, injured and unable to rise.
Abdulrahman, one of those crushed beneath a mass of bodies, was numb with pain. "Half of my body was gone. I couldn't feel it."
Screams filled the air. Some cried for help. Others tried to speak in English, begging American personnel nearby to assist. But there was no help.
"They refused to come. They just filmed us, mocked us, laughed at us, turned their faces away," he says.
Minutes passed. People suffocated, trapped under layers of bodies. Then, Israeli forces fired again. This time, at the ground.
"'Get up!' they said. They made people get up. They forced everyone up. They shot at the ground and said, 'Get up!'"
Abdulrahman, after fainting, felt a breeze on his leg. He came to. Around him, others were lying in the sand. Their faces bloodied, their bodies still. Many were dead.
A child no older than 15 was carried away by the Americans. He didn’t survive. The rest of the wounded remained. They wouldn’t be moved until the aid distribution resumed and the Israeli checkpoints were "secure."
He watched as carts were brought in to remove the bodies. "Two martyrs per cart. Some were carried on wooden carts. Some on wheelbarrows."
‘This is a death trap’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating in Gaza in late May, bypassing the UN and established aid agencies. It was marketed as a streamlined alternative for delivering aid to Palestinians under siege since October 7, 2023.
But even before its first delivery, the initiative had already been rejected by the United Nations and condemned by human rights groups as ethically compromised and politically driven.
“This particular distribution plan does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, and independence, and we will not be participating in this,” said UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq in late May.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher also criticised the US- and Israel-backed strategy, warning that it was never intended to genuinely help civilians. “It is a fig leaf for further violence and displacement,” he told the UN Security Council. “It is a cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction.”
Since its launch, the foundation has been at the centre of growing outrage.
Palestinians and international aid groups say its operations have not only failed to alleviate hunger but have led to more bloodshed. Civilians seeking food have ended up being killed. “Aid,” many Palestinians now say, “has been weaponised.”
"This checkpoint of the Americans; this is death. Real death," Abdulrahman echoes the same sentiment.
International law mandates the protection of civilians and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid. But in Gaza, hunger is being used as bait.
Distribution hubs have become scenes of massacre. Starvation has become a strategy. And food has become a pretext for ethnic cleansing.
People like Abdulrahman are trapped between the siege and the snare.
“Why did they come? To eat. People have no money. There’s no money in the country. Whoever says they have money is lying,” he says. “They shoot us for trying to get aid.”
Even if food were available in markets, people couldn’t afford it.
“Potatoes are selling for 100 or 150 shekels. How can I afford that? I have no job. No work. No unemployment pay. No one is giving me anything,” Abdulrahman tells TRT World. “If something was cheap, I’d come buy it instead of waiting for aid.”
He believes the so-called humanitarian checkpoint was never meant to help. “Why humiliate and push us to die like this? Just bring aid without shooting. Without violence.”
He tried to help others that day. He saw a neighbour buried in the sand. He saw a child with nothing to eat. He had nothing to give.
"What I witnessed was inhumane. Have mercy on us, just a little," he says. "We just want to survive. Have compassion. Think of your children. Your women. Your men. Most here are orphans. They have no one."
The international community continues to debate humanitarian corridors, ceasefires, and access.
But in the killing fields of Gaza, Palestinians are being gunned down at aid distribution centres designed to save them.
Palestinians are not getting food. They are getting bullets. And the world just continues to watch from afar.
