Middle East: Israeli Forces Kill 93 Aid Seekers in Gaza, Pope Condemns War Brutality

Palestinians collect aid supplies in northern Gaza, July 20, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in the war-torn territory on Sunday, July 20, 2025, killing 93 people and injuring many others. Pope Leo XIV strongly condemned the brutality of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after an Israeli strike on the territory’s only Catholic church.

According to the civil defense agency, 80 people were killed in northern Gaza as aid trucks arrived, while nine were shot dead near an aid distribution point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens had lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four others were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, agency spokesperson Mahmud Basal told AFP.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported that its convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians near Gaza City, who came under gunfire shortly after crossing from Israel and clearing checkpoints. The Israeli military disputed the reported death toll, stating that soldiers fired warning shots to address an “immediate threat” posed by thousands gathered near Gaza City. Civilian deaths during aid collection have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with authorities attributing the casualties to Israeli gunfire amid chronic shortages of food and essentials driving desperate crowds to aid centers. The UN estimates nearly 800 aid seekers have been killed since late May. The Gaza war began after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 others taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, predominantly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret to Pope Leo XIV for a “stray” munition that killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. The church, a refuge for about 600 displaced people, mostly children and those with special needs, was struck in what Israel called an accidental attack.

Speaking after the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV condemned the “barbarity” of the Gaza war, describing the church strike as part of ongoing military attacks on civilians and places of worship. He urged the international community to uphold humanitarian law, respect the prohibition of collective punishment, and avoid indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement.

A Reuters report noted that the Holy Family Church, regularly contacted by the late Pope Francis, was hit on Thursday, with Jerusalem’s Roman Catholic leader Father Gabriel Romanelli confirming casualties and injuries in the attack.