Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a U.S.-backed aid distribution centre.
The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week.
An aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was meanwhile nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 a.m. (0930 IST), 'six persons were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout'.
Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the GHF aid centre about one kilometre (a little over half a mile) away.
AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.
The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired 'warning shots' at individuals that it said were 'advancing in a way that endangered the troops'.
Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.
'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Abu Hadid said.
The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month aid blockade on the territory.
UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.
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