Human Interest

By Pesach Benson • June 5, 2025

Jerusalem, 5 June, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Humanitarian aid distribution centers in Gaza remained closed on Thursday morning as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation cited “maintenance and repair work” as the reason for the continued closure.

“The organization would share information on opening times as soon as the work is complete,” according to s GHF statement. This represents a delay from the foundation’s original plan to reopen Thursday after shutting down Wednesday for what was initially described as a one-day closure for logistical work. The GHF did not indicate when the centers would reopen.

The GHF had operated for eight consecutive days before implementing the shutdown to address safety concerns and accommodate the overwhelming number of Palestinians seeking aid. The organization reported handling approximately 15,000 people per hour at its distribution sites, far exceeding anticipated capacity.

Recent violence has heightened security concerns around the aid distribution process. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces fired warning shots at Palestinians who allegedly strayed from pre-approved paths while approaching distribution sites. The incidents resulted in conflicting casualty reports, with Hamas officials and the Red Cross claiming “dozens were killed and hundreds wounded from gunfire,” while the IDF disputed these figures as exaggerated and announced it was investigating the allegations.

In response to these security incidents, the GHF emphasized safety protocols. “GHF is working to make the distribution of food boxes as safe as possible, despite the difficult circumstances. We strongly urge all those heading to our locations to follow the routes set by the IDF to ensure safe passage.”

The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced that 88 humanitarian aid trucks carrying flour and food entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Since Israel resumed aid deliveries on May 19 after a pause that lasted from March 2, a total of 1,197 trucks have entered the Strip, though many truckloads remain uncollected at the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the Gazan side.

Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, Israel announced that soldiers recovered the remains of Gadi Hagai and his wife, Judy Weinstein Hagai in Khan Yunis. The two were murdered at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attacks; their bodies were held for 607 days by the Al Mujahideen Battalions, the same terror group that kidnapped and murdered the Bibas family.

On Tuesday evening, a reservist was killed and four soldiers were wounded in separate incidents in northern Gaza.

Additional violence erupted in Jabalia, where Hamas used a drone to drop explosives on Israeli troops, moderately wounding two soldiers from the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and lightly injuring an Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) officer. A day earlier, three soldiers were killed in Jabaliya by a roadside bomb.

At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 56 remaining hostages, 33 are believed to be dead.