In the past two days, dozens of Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said.
On Thursday, medics said at least 40 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food.
Twenty-eight people were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. One of those strikes killed at least 12 people, including women and children, near a mosque in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on Thursday’s incident.
In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and fired warning shots to disperse people who approached areas where troops were operating, posing a threat. It said it was reviewing reports of casualties among civilians.
SLEEPING BY THE ROAD
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new U.S.- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
The Gaza health ministry said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May.
The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies.
There was no immediate GHF comment on Thursday’s incident. On Wednesday, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed 3 million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident.
The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis.
The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Thursday that more than 1 million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1.
Source: Reuters
