‘Whoever goes there dies’: Gaza ‘aid distribution’ sites are deathtraps

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

When they ran out of targets in Gaza, they resorted to killing civilians trying to get aid. The Americans and the Israelis are setting a trap for us. 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

Whoever goes there dies. Whether it’s the American point, Netzarim or Zikim.

Islam Jalal Alza’nin: 

Here’s the shot. Here—see? It went in through here and out from here. This isn’t aid. This is so they can kill the young men. 

Narrator: 

These images are from aid distribution sites set up by the Gaza Humanitarian foundation (GHF) since May 26, 2025. 

The US and Israeli-backed GHF uses private military contractors to bypass UN systems which Israel claims are being exploited by Hamas. But with over 650 killed and thousands more wounded at the sites, and Gaza continuing to starve—what purpose does the GHF actually serve? 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha has survived multiple GHF sites in his search for food.

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

The body parts landed on us. The body parts of these men fell on top of us in the ditch. The firing from the sniper, the quadcopter and from everywhere was all whistling right by us. We were trapped there for two hours, surrounded by gunfire. Whoever lifted their head was killed. There’s no hope. Raise your head like this and they’ll shoot you. The army was not acting like we were citizens going to get aid, they, no—they were ambushing civilians. To kill them. The people of Gaza are not able to access the American aid. This American aid is just a way for them to kill us conveniently. They are killing us at the aid sites. They’re not feeding us. 

Islam Jalal Alza’nin: 

My son was the kindest person in the world to me. Everyone loved him and respected him. He was a kind person. Everyone loved him. May God have mercy on you my son. Even his laugh was so unique. This is the bag he left with. Here is his blood on it. I kept it because his blood is on it, his scent. Here’s the shot—it came out of his back. Came in here and out here. God is sufficient for us, and the best protector—that’s it. He said: “They’re giving aid” I told him, “Don’t go, Muhammad. I don’t want you to go: we will eat sand, just don’t go.” He said: “I see my sisters hungry, can I not go? I’ll go, but I promise you I’ll be careful. I’ll keep my distance. When they hand out the aid I’ll run and grab food, but I will stay far from the Israelis and be careful. I’ll bring us a bag of flour.”

I went outside and asked: “Where’s Muhammad?” People were coming up to me, telling me he was martyred. One woman grabbed me and said, “Say: May God have mercy on him.” I grabbed her and shook her violently. I said, “No, my son, don’t say that about him. My son promised he would come back.” I was so upset I tried to throw myself in front of a car. People held me back. I told them, “That’s it. I’m nothing. I am nothing without Muhammad.” He is my foundation. That’s it—if he’s not alive, then I don’t want to live. Life no longer has meaning for me. They held me and didn’t let me go to him or see him. 

The next day I went to the hospital. They hadn’t buried him yet, I went to see his body. There were many bodies there—there were a lot of martyrs. A journalist there told me that it was her brother who had carried my son back. That there were so many dead and injured, but somehow God inspired him to pick my son’s body out of all the dead. “We put him on the board and came back with him.” He told me “don’t be upset that we put him on a wooden board.” This is a blessing from God. Here, look at his picture. His face is full of flour. He’s covered in flour. These people who are carrying him, none of them are his relatives. 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

From the sign, when you get to the American checkpoint. That’s when terror sets in. There are no hills or anything to hide, you keep walking, you stop at the sign, then a quadcopter comes and it says: “You Arabs! You cattle!” in this manner. “In half an hour we will open the gate for you.” Then the ship and the quadcopter and the tank all start firing at you. They all fire at you. People start to crawl and slide. Some are injured, some are killed, no one cares. People want to eat. We’ve reached the stage where people’s brains are working only on how to eat and how to feed their children. They don’t want to warn us, they are just mocking us. My eyes saw bodies ripped apart. No one picks them up. No one picks them up. When we leave we bring them back with us. We find their bodies after three days, their blood drained. We take a board of wood and place some bodies on it and bring them back. 

Narrator: 

Almost every single international humanitarian organisation, including The UN, Oxfam, Amnesty and hundreds more – have condemned the GHF sites for weaponizing aid. But there are some who still claim that they are safe. Retired British Army officer Richard Kemp posted a video from one of the sites: 

CLIP: “It’s all lies generated by Hamas” 

Narrator: 

But even as Kemp claims everyone is safe—the sound of gunshots can be heard in the background. 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

Yes, the Americans, they have weapons. They have weapons. They’re wearing armour, armour, and each one is two metres tall, Holding M16 guns we’ve never seen before, And they have tanks, next to them protecting them. This is what we see when we get there. You leave—having survived the Israelis you then face the gangs on the road back. Who say: “Either I hit you or you give me your bag.” We live this scene every day. 

Islam Jalal Alza’nin: 

They were all young men, like my son. One of the boys killed with him was also 20. The martyrs were all youth, 18 or 20. Why did they go? Because they wanted to live. For bread. Not to fight. They had no weapons or anything. They’re going to get flour, and my son was carrying flour. The boys told me that he was carrying a bag of flour: I mean, how can you shoot someone carrying flour? He wasn’t carrying weapons or something to throw at the Israelis. 

Narrator: 

The weaponization of aid is not new. In 2006, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza, controlling every calorie, every medical shipment and every fuel truck. Over the last two years Israel has routinely constricted entry of aid into Gaza, culminating in a complete blockade that lasted nearly 3 months. Today ‘Humanitarian corridors’ have become kill zones and ‘Distribution points’ have become opportunities for target practice. 

A video released by Al Jazeera tells a story. A young man carries a bag of flour on his back, unarmed, unthreatening and yet… Just like Muhammad, he too ends his life covered in flour. 

Islam Jalal Alza’nin: 

It’s been two years, enough. We have nothing left in us. Enough suffering. There are no young people left. This is his grave. 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

After my last attempt when I nearly died and the two people next to me died and I couldn’t do anything for them. I have sworn never to go back. If they really wanted to give us aid, they would come and distribute it to us. “Here, take your package and go.” But no, they’re treating us like cattle, we’re trampling, we’re trampling, crushing and killing each other inside, while they watch us from behind a fence, holding a gun, four or five metres away, watching what’s happening. 

Mahmoud Jamil Warshagha: 

Israelis don’t give warnings. The way they warn you is to kill 100 people in front of you. To warn you, they will kill 100 people in front of you. So they’re warning us with strikes? If a quadcopter drops a grenade on 30 or 40 people, is that how they warn us? If that’s a warning, how would it look if they wanted to kill? With an F16 they want to warn us? With a tank? As soon as the aid lorries arrive, the brother no longer knows his brother. There was one guy who got injured by shrapnel, when the aid arrived, his brother abandoned him to get food for his kids. He abandoned his brother. Even when he came back with the most basic thing, he would feed it to his sisters or to his mother, before he would eat. 

Islam Jalal Alza’nin: 

Him and his friends would buy something and they would say to him: “here’s your share” and he would put it aside for his sisters. He would see me depressed and sad and he would grab me and take me for a walk around. He would take his sisters, he was so kind to them. If he got angry at one of them, when they did something wrong, he would come back later and make up and explain to her. Everyone used to say, “he’s more mature than his age.” He’d taken on so much responsibility. No, he wasn’t afraid. Hunger forced him, against his will, to go. Seeing his sisters like that—hungry—forced him to go.