An extensive investigation from The New Humanitarian has revealed that Israeli forces have killed nearly 3000 Palestinians and injured about 20,000 others over the past 23 months while they were trying to obtain humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
The investigation, which was based on open sources, UN reports, and data from international organisations, showed that these attacks are not isolated or incidental, but rather part of a systematic military policy that uses starvation as a weapon of war, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their writer, Riley Sparks, said:
these attacks are not an aberration. They represent the escalation of a deadly tactic that has been a key part of Israeli strategy – a tactic that has helped precipitate a famine, enable the now-routine slaughter of people trying to collect food and other essential supplies, and deny Palestinians the basic necessities required to sustain life in Gaza.
Israel kills nearly 3000 people
According to documented data, between January 2024 and early September 2025, the death toll reached approximately 2,957, with 19,866 wounded.
Between January and the end of July, nearly 200 direct attacks were recorded, killing 1,200 people and injuring 4,700.
Since May 2025, with the start of the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the numbers have jumped sharply, with around 2,300 Palestinians killed in just three months.
This toll represents about 4.6% of the total war casualties in Gaza and more than 12% of the injured, according to the Ministry of Health in the Strip.
Systematic policy
The report demonstrates that what is happening cannot be considered mere “random events,” but rather a clear military policy. Israeli forces resort to firing and shelling gatherings of civilians seeking food and water as a means of crowd control. They use these attacks to drive the population into forced displacement, in addition to depriving them of the minimum necessities of daily life. According to the investigation, this pattern confirms that targeting civilians in Gaza is no longer a “side effect of war,” but rather an intentional tool within a long-term strategy.
This pattern, according to the investigation, confirms that targeting civilians in Gaza is no longer a “side effect of war,” but rather a deliberate tool within a long-term strategy.
Legal experts have described these practices as serious violations of international humanitarian law, considering them to be war crimes and crimes against humanity, and even genocide, given their use of starvation and intimidation as military tools.
The report also noted that Israel directly targeted journalists, killing at least 197 of them since the start of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. However, the United Nations reports more than 240 deaths. This targeting has reduced field coverage and weakened documentation, while Israeli authorities continue to prevent international media from entering the Gaza Strip.
Call for accountability
The newspaper emphasised that the database it published is based on strict criteria for verifying incidents, stressing that the figures announced are “conservative” and that the actual toll is higher.
It called for the database to be used as a tool to prosecute those responsible for the violations, as each documented attack could constitute a war crime. And, the overall pattern from the report reveals a strategy aimed at impoverishing and starving Palestinians and isolating them from the world.
The investigation shows that the killing of Palestinians while seeking aid is not the result of “mistakes on the ground,” as Israel claims. Instead, it is part of a systematic policy that escalates the humanitarian crisis and pushes Gaza’s population toward starvation and forced displacement, in flagrant violation of international law and human rights principles.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.