Murray Wood: Who's hot and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the big news stories and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
by Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy from AP, and Craig Lord from The Canadian Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded on Monday as desperate crowds headed toward food distribution points and airdropped parcels in the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and local health officials.
Israel’s blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, contributing to the territory’s slide toward famine nearly 22 months into the war with Hamas.
Read more:
- Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials report 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza
- Prime Minister Carney says Canada will recognize a Palestinian state
- Canada pledges $30M in Gaza aid, $10M for Palestinian Authority work toward statehood
Aid groups say Israel’s week-old measures to allow more aid in are far from sufficient. Families of hostages in Gaza fear starvation affects them too, but blame Hamas.
Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office.
The military says it has only fired warning shots and disputes the toll.
As international alarm has mounted, several countries have airdropped aid over Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks.
Early this morning, the Canadian Armed Forces airdropped life-saving aid into Gaza.
The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. Canada is intensifying our efforts with international partners to develop a credible peace plan and will ensure aid moves forward at… pic.twitter.com/jyahhKHqjK— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 4, 2025
Canada drops nearly 10,000 kg of aid
Canadian aircraft carried out an airdrop of nearly 10,000 kilograms of aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Monday as Prime Minister Mark Carney warned of a deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the region.
The Canadian Armed Forces flew a CC-130J Hercules aircraft over the Gaza Strip to conduct the drop, said Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty in a media statement.
Carney said in a social media post Monday that the “humanitarian disaster in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating.”
“Canada is intensifying our efforts with international partners to develop a credible peace plan and will ensure aid moves forward at the necessary scale,” he said.
Carney had posted video earlier in the week of Canadian aid pallets delivered to Gaza via Jordanian military aircraft.
More much needed aid delivered to Palestinians in Gaza today. A Canadian Armed Forces CC-130J Hercules flew a successful mission over Gaza and airdropped 21 600lbs of aid.
I continue to stay in touch with my Jordanian counterpart so that Canadian aid makes it way into Gaza… https://t.co/0PS8HI63p0
— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) August 4, 2025
Anand said in a separate social media post that she remains in contact with her counterpart in Jordan to ensure Canadian aid reaches Palestinians via air and land.
Global Affairs Canada said in a release Monday that Israel’s ongoing aid restrictions are in violation of international law “and must end immediately.”
“Canada reiterates calls for the guarantee of safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations, including the opening of all crossings, the rapid approval of customs clearances and all humanitarian goods into Gaza, and the issuance of long-term visas for aid workers,” the statement read.
On Wednesday, Carney cited Israel’s aid restrictions and the need to preserve a path to a two-state solution as reasons for declaring that Canada would officially recognize a State of Palestine.
Carney said the move was conditional on the Palestinian Authority undertaking serious reforms and holding an election next year for the first time in two decades.
Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Scramble for air-dropped aid
Many food parcels dropped by air have splashed into the Mediterranean Sea or landed in so-called red zones from which Israel’s military has ordered people to evacuate. In either case, Palestinians risk their lives to get flour and other basic goods.
On Monday, Palestinians cheered as pallets of aid were parachuted over Zuweida in central Gaza. Associated Press footage showed a desperate scramble when the parcels hit the ground, with hundreds of people racing toward them. Fistfights broke out and some men wielded batons.
“I wish they would deliver it through the (land) crossings,” Rabah Rabah said earlier as he waited for the airdrop. “This is inhuman.”
At least one parcel fell on a tent where displaced people had been sheltering, injuring a man who was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
A Palestinian carries the body of a man killed while trying to receive aid near a distribution centre operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Netzarim, in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Dozens killed seeking aid
At least 16 people were killed late Sunday near the Israeli-controlled Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for aid to northern Gaza, according to records at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which showed that more than 130 people were wounded.
The circumstances were not immediately clear, but the crossing has seen several shootings in recent days that witnesses and health officials blamed on Israeli forces. There was no immediate comment from the military.
At least 10 people were killed as thousands waited for aid trucks in the Morag Corridor, which the Israeli military carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Mohammed al-Masri, who was among the crowds, said Israeli forces opened fire when a group of young men tried to make their way to the front.
“The occupation forces shot many people in the head and in the back,” he said, adding that he saw four wounded people, one motionless on the ground.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 10 bodies from Morag and another five who were killed near an aid site in southern Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor.
GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites.
It said a new U.N. route runs near two of its sites in the south and has drawn large crowds of people who unload the convoys. GHF says its contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots on a few occasions to prevent deadly crowding since it opened four sites in May.
‘It’s a death trap’
Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of eight people killed near a GHF site in the Israeli-controlled Netzarim Corridor, and that another 50 people were wounded. Witnesses and health officials said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds.
An Associated Press photo showed a man carrying a body away from the site, as others hauled bags of food.
“It’s like yesterday, and the day before,” said Ayman Ruqab, a young Palestinian who said he had tried unsuccessfully to reach the site for the past three days. “It’s a death trap.”
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people who approached “in a manner that posed a threat to the troops,” without elaborating. It said it was not aware of any casualties.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. They still hold 50 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says around half the dead have been women and children, is staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count.
Israel has disputed the figures but hasn’t provided its own.
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