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27 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire while waiting for aid distribution, says Hamas-run Gaza health ministry
Twenty-seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while waiting for aid to be distributed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
They were reportedly killed in the Rafah area of southern Gaza early on Tuesday.
The Hamas-run ministry claimed that more than 90 people were injured, with some in a serious condition.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had fired shots about half a kilometre from the aid distribution site of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), adding that people were moving towards its forces in a way that “posed a threat to them”.
A woman reacts after 24 Palestinians were reportedly killed in the Rafah area. Pic: Reuters
A mourner reacts during the funeral of Palestinians killed in alleged Israeli fire. Pic: Reuters
The IDF said in a statement: “Earlier today (Tuesday), during the movement of the crowd along the designated routes toward the aid distribution site – approximately half a kilometre from the site – IDF troops identified several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.
“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops.”
It also highlighted that IDF troops were “not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties. A spokesperson added that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.
There were three children and two women among the dead, according to Mohammed Saqr, who is the head of nursing at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said in a statement that Israel was transforming aid distribution centres “into mass death traps and bloodbaths” as 102 people were killed and 490 more injured in just eight days since the centres opened on 27 May.
The aid centres were “luring starving civilians to them as a result of the crippling famine”, according to the media office, which called for humanitarian aid delivered through UN agencies and neutral international organisations rather than the GHF.
An ambulance outside Nassar hospital in Gaza, where people allegedly injured by Israeli fire were taken
Palestinians arriving at Nassar hospital following alleged Israeli fire near an aid distribution site
The alleged shooting comes just two days after reports that 31 people were killed as they walked to a distribution centre run by the GHF in the Rafah area.
Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire, while Palestinian and Hamas-linked media attributed the deaths they reported to an Israeli airstrike.
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The IDF later said its forces “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false”.
On Monday, three more Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid.
He called for an independent investigation and said: “It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.”
Two women cry during the funeral of Palestinians killed early Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
Palestinians arrived to collect aid from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub in Rafah last week. File pic: Reuters
Last week, Israel accepted a US-brokered ceasefire proposal, which would see the release over the course of a week of nine living hostages and half of the known hostages who have died.
But Hamas said that it was seeking amendments to the proposed 60-day truce, offering 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.