More Palestinians Die From Hunger and While Seeking Aid

Many Shot by Israeli Forces Operating Near US-Backed Aid Distribution Sites

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CAIRO/GAZA — At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Gaza on Aug. 4, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding that another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine.

The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in central and southern Gaza, local medics said.

The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to get aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.

"Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or is carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari.

He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital on Aug. 4; they had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials.