Israeli soldiers open fire on crowd at US-backed aid hub in Gaza, killing at least 22 people
ISRAELI SOLDIERS HAVE opened fire on people near a US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, killing at least 22 and wounding more than 120, according to the Palestinian territory's civil defence agency.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told the AFP news agency the soldiers had shot from miliary vehicles 'towards thousands of citizens' who were approaching the aid hub near Rafah.
'The number of martyrs from the massacre at the American aid centre in Rafah has risen to at least 22, with more than 120 wounded, including children,' Bassal said.
It is the latest in a series of fatal incidents at aid centres in Gaza, where the UN says the entire population is at risk of famine.
On Tuesday, one person
was killed and another 48 were injured
, mostly by Israeli gunfire, at another aid distribution hub run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organisation backed by the US government.
On Thursday, four people were killed when a crowd of desperate people
stormed a UN World Food Programme warehouse.
Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
In the Gaza Strip, aid is only trickling in after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, and the United Nations has reported looting of its trucks and warehouses.
'Death traps, not aid points'
The UN's World Food Programme has called on Israel 'to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster', saying desperation was 'contributing to rising insecurity'.
The GHF, which is administered by contracted US security with support from Israeli troops, began distributing food in the Gaza Strip on 26 May.
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The United Nations and other major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the organisation, saying it violated basic humanitarian principles, and appeared crafted to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Officially a private effort, GHF said it had distributed 2.1 million meals as of Friday.
In a statement today, Hamas accused Israeli forces operating in Rafah of committing 'a new massacre against hungry civilians who had gathered at the so-called 'humanitarian aid' distribution sites', calling them 'mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points'.
Truce talks
The Palestinian militant group said yesterday that it had responded positively to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but Washington's main negotiator criticised Hamas's reply as 'totally unacceptable'.
Hamas said it had emphasised the need for a permanent ceasefire – long a sticking point for Israel.
And a source within the Palestinian group's political bureau added that it had also pushed for a 'full Israeli withdrawal' from the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Israel had warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages held in Gaza 'or be annihilated'.
US envoy Steve Witkoff called Hamas's response to its truce offer on Saturday 'totally unacceptable', and urged it to 'accept the framework proposal we put forward'.
'That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have… substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,' he added in a post on X.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
With reporting from AFP
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