Gaza health ministry reports 14 dead after Israel-linked attack near aid site

Irish Times

a day ago

Palestinians say
Israeli forces
and allied local gunmen fired toward a crowd heading to an Israeli and US supported food distribution centre in the
Gaza Strip
.
Gaza's health ministry and local hospitals said 14 people were killed in the reported attack early on Monday.
The gunmen appeared to be allied with the Israeli military, operating in close proximity to troops and retreating into an Israeli military zone in the southern city of Rafah after the crowd hurled stones at them, witnesses said.
Israel recently acknowledged supporting local armed groups opposed to
Hamas
.
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The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was the latest in
a number of shootings
that have killed at least 127 people and wounded hundreds since the rollout of a new food distribution system, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Israel and the US say the new aid system is designed to circumvent Hamas, but it has been rejected by the UN and major aid groups.
Experts have meanwhile warned that
Israel's blockade and its ongoing military campaign have put Gaza at risk of famine
.
Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired toward crowds heading to the
food centres
since they opened last month.
[
From relief to horror: Gazans met with gunfire at aid sites
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]
In previous instances, the Israeli military has said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces near the centres, which are in military zones off limits to independent media.
The
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
(GHF), the Israeli- and US-supported private contractor running the sites, says there has been no violence in or around the centres themselves.
But the foundation repeatedly warns would-be food recipients that stepping off the road designated by the military for people to reach the centres represents 'a great danger'.
It paused delivery at its three distribution sites last week to hold discussions with the military about improving safety on the routes.
GHF closed the Rafah site on Monday due to the 'chaos of the crowds', according to a Facebook site associated with the group.
Nasser Hospital said several men had been shot in the upper body, including some in the head.
[
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]
Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the health ministry's records department, said six people were killed and more than 99 wounded, some of them at another GHF centre in central Gaza.
The war
began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
They are still holding 55 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,900 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced 90 per cent of the population and left the territory almost completely reliant on international aid.
[
Almost all of Gaza's farmland rendered unusable as famine risk rises, finds UN report
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]
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel says it will continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries – a plan rejected by most of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion. – AP