What was meant to be a lifeline became a death trap once again. At dawn on Thursday, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid near Wadi Gaza, killing at least 19 people and wounding around 100 others, in what survivors described as a scene of carnage.

Witnesses said people had gathered in desperation, hoping to secure a sack of flour or canned goods. Instead, they were met with bullets and airstrikes, the latest in a growing pattern of attacks on civilians at aid lines coordinated under the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed body operating with Israeli oversight.

“This isn’t relief, it’s a trap,” said one man who had rushed to the scene. “People are being starved, then slaughtered as they reach out for food.”

Since October 7, 2023, over 55,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. More than 129,000 have been injured, and countless others remain buried under rubble or stranded in inaccessible zones, where even ambulances are forbidden to go.

What unfolded at Wadi Gaza was not chaos, it was policy. Hunger has been weaponised, and aid turned into bait. And with each new massacre, the message to Gaza’s besieged population is cruelly clear: even the line for bread is not safe.