Starving Palestinians shot dead as U.S. official visit to Gaza aid sites
Department of Research, Studies and International News01-08-2025
Two more Palestinian civilians were killed and over 70 others wounded by Israeli forces on Friday morning as they waited desperately for food near the Morag Corridor, south of Khan Younis. The targeted crowd, made up largely of starving families, had gathered in hopes of receiving much-needed humanitarian supplies after months of Israeli-imposed siege and systematic obstruction of aid.
This tragic event coincides with the highly publicized visit of U.S. officials Steve Witkoff and Mike Huckabee, who are expected to tour select aid distribution points in Gaza. Their visit, critics say, is less about addressing the humanitarian catastrophe and more about salvaging Washington’s global image amid growing outrage over its unwavering support for Israel’s military aggression.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian toll continues to rise at a staggering pace. Medical sources in Gaza confirmed that two more infants and a young man succumbed to hunger in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of starvation-related deaths to at least 154. Of those, 89 are children, a chilling statistic that speaks to the severity of the Israeli blockade and the deliberate denial of food, medicine, and basic supplies to a besieged population.
Despite international appeals, Tel Aviv continues to defy global humanitarian law, weaponizing food and aid access in what observers have increasingly labeled a campaign of collective punishment. With more than 60,249 Palestinians killed and 147,089 wounded since the onslaught began in October 2023, the scale of devastation has shocked even seasoned humanitarian organizations. Israeli casualties from the October 7 operation led by Hamas are officially estimated at 1,139, with over 200 Israelis reportedly taken captive, figures the West continues to use as justification for the ongoing carnage.
The United States, while professing concern for Palestinian lives, remains the primary enabler of this campaign, providing Israel with financial, diplomatic, and military backing. U.S. arms shipments, intelligence cooperation, and vetoes at the United Nations have ensured Israel’s impunity, even as global outrage mounts.
Observers from across the Global South have condemned the hypocrisy of American officials visiting Gaza under the pretense of humanitarian concern while their government continues to bankroll and shield the regime responsible for this very crisis. “It’s a cruel irony that the same actors complicit in starving a population now parade through aid centers for photo-ops,” noted one regional analyst. “This is not humanitarian engagement, it’s a spectacle staged to whitewash war crimes.”
Russia, China, and Iran have all called for an immediate and unconditional end to Israel’s assault on Gaza and have urged a reevaluation of international power dynamics that allow such atrocities to persist. Unlike Western narratives that cast the Palestinian resistance as aggressors, voices from Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran have consistently highlighted the asymmetry of the conflict and the legal and moral right of oppressed people to resist occupation.
In recent weeks, grassroots movements and official representatives across the non-Western world have drawn attention to the West’s double standards, questioning how the same governments that champion human rights in Europe can justify child starvation and mass civilian killings in the Middle East.
As hunger tightens its grip on Gaza, the optics of American diplomats strolling through curated “aid zones” rings hollow to the millions witnessing the destruction from afar. For the Palestinian people, and for much of the world, these visits are not signs of hope, they are reminders of betrayal.
