Israelis accused of firing on Gaza aid centre

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Samantha Donovan: First this evening to Gaza, where Israeli forces have reportedly again fired on people waiting for aid in the town of Rafah in the enclave's south. There are reports more than 20 people have been killed. Matthew Doran is the ABC's Middle East correspondent in Jerusalem. Matthew, what's known about this incident so far?
Matthew Doran: Well, Sam, the details are still coming through. But what we know is that as Palestinians were waiting to access this aid distribution site in Rafah in southern Gaza, local authorities are saying that Israeli forces opened fire. There are differing accounts at this early stage as to exactly what has happened there. But certainly all of the Palestinian media outlets and the Palestinian authorities are definitely saying Israeli forces were involved here. We are seeing some figures, and I must stress that these are unconfirmed at this stage, that at least 24 people have been killed so far. And we are seeing some reports that more than 200 have been wounded in this incident. There are reports in Palestinian media saying that this is not only a case of Israeli soldiers opening fire, but we are also seeing some reports of Israeli shelling being involved in this incident as well. What happens at these sites is that they open quite early in the morning. Palestinians are told to arrive to go through the screening processes. They then go into these sites and they pick up the supplies that they can access and that they can carry back to their families. It is quite a controlled process. We know that the Palestinians are told to take certain roads, for example, to enter these sites. And it appears that, again, this is an incident of a third in as many days where there has been a shooting attack near one of these sites.
Samantha Donovan: This appears to have happened quite early in the morning. And I imagine a lot of these people queuing up have had to walk great distances.
Matthew Doran: They certainly have because there aren't that many of these aid distribution sites actually operating across Gaza. The main ones that we are hearing a lot about in the last few days are in the south of Gaza and around the area of Rafah. This is an area which is totally controlled by the IDF. It has been for a number of weeks now after they cleared the Palestinian population out of there. So people are making a trek through an IDF-controlled area. There are no distribution points in the north at this stage. So if you imagine not only people having to travel from central regions of Gaza, but also northern areas if they want to try to access this aid, it is a very long journey for many of these people.
Samantha Donovan: So, Matthew, what has the Israeli military had to say about these reports that more than 20 people have been killed and perhaps hundreds injured?
Matthew Doran: So they haven't commented specifically on those figures. What the IDF has said, they have confirmed that there has been an incident at one of these sites where Israeli forces fired some warning shots at what they are describing as Palestinian suspects who deviated from that agreed access route. When those individuals didn't change course, more shots were fired. And it says that this happened around 500 metres or so from where the aid distribution site is, not actually within the confines of it, but from where that site, outside of where that site is. It says it's investigating this incident and we may well hear more details throughout the day here. It is still fairly early in the day here in the Middle East. Very, very particular wording being used at this stage. And it appears there's still a lot of confusion as to exactly what's happened there, even though the Palestinian authorities say it's very clearly the work of Israel.
Samantha Donovan: Matthew Doran is the ABC's Middle East correspondent. He was speaking to me from Jerusalem.