Israeli tanks ‘open fire into crowd trying to get food from aid trucks in Gaza killing dozens' as IDF launches probe
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ISRAELI tanks opened fire into a crowd desperate to get food from aid trucks in Gaza, with the IDF launching a probe.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots in the direction of a crowd of thousands of people to rid what it called "an immediate threat".
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Palestinians carry aid acquired at the Zikim crossing back to their families
Credit: Getty
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The Hamas-run health ministry claims at least 85 civilians were killed
Credit: Getty
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The bodies of those who lost their lives are brought to the morgue of Al Shifa Hospital after an Israeli attack in Gaza Strip
Credit: Getty
The Hamas-run health ministry claims at least 85 civilians were killed while trying to reach food today, which would make it the deadliest day for aid-seekers in the entire war.
But the IDF disputes the death toll, saying the "reported number of casualties does not align with the existing information".
It also accused Hamas militants of creating chaos.
There was new alarm as Israel's military issued evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza.
The largest death toll was in devastated northern Gaza, where living conditions are especially harrowing.
At least 79 Palestinians were tragically killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, Zaher al-Waheidi, the head of the Health Ministry's records department, said.
The UN World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for starving people when it encountered massive crowds.
An anonymous UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to take food from the convoy.
Israel's military said soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties.
More than 150 people were wounded, some in critical condition, hospitals said.
Al-Waheidi said Israeli gunfire killed another six Palestinians in the Shakoush area, hundreds of meters north of a hub of the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
After the tragic reports emerged, the US- and Israel-backed GHF stressed the shooting occurred near a UN aid convoy - not near any of their distribution hubs.
Witnesses and health workers say several hundred people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group's aid distribution sites.
The horrific incident came as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly maintained that expanding Israel's military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas into negotiations.
Earlier this month, Israel's military said it controlled more than 65 per cent of Gaza.
Gaza's population of more than two million Palestinians are currently facing a devastating humanitarian crisis and relying predominantly on the limited aid allowed into the territory.
Ambulances in front of three major hospitals in Gaza sounded their alarms simultaneously Sunday in an urgent appeal as hunger grows.
The Health Ministry posted pictures on social media of doctors holding signs about malnourished children and the lack of medication.
The GHF uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Gaza.
The UN among other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, claiming that Israel is weaponising food and that it will lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They added that it undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.
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Palestinians carry aid acquired at the Zikim crossing
Credit: Getty
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Sky News
3 hours ago
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British surgeon claims IDF shooting Gazans in specific areas - 'almost like a game of target practice'
Why you can trust Sky News A British surgeon who recently returned from Gaza has told Sky News that there is "profound malnutrition" among the population - and claims IDF soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points "like a game of target practice". Dr Nick Maynard spent four weeks working inside Nasser Hospital, where a lack of food has left medics struggling to treat children and toddlers. The conditions inside the hospital, in the south of the Strip, have been documented in a Sky News report. 3:49 Dr Maynard told The World with Yalda Hakim: "I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage - and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed. "There were four premature babies who died during the first two weeks when I was in Nasser Hospital - and there will be many, many more deaths until the Israelis allow proper food to get in there." In other developments: • Israel and the US have recalled their teams from Gaza ceasefire talks • US envoy Steve Witkoff has accused Hamas "of failing to act in good faith" • France has announced that it will recognise the state of Palestine • An influential group of MPs is calling on the UK to "immediately" do the same 5:33 'They were shells' Dr Nick Maynard has been going to Gaza for the past 15 years - and this is his third visit to the territory since the war began. The British surgeon added that virtually all of the kids in the paediatric unit of Nasser Hospital are being fed with sugar water. "They've got a small amount of formula feed for very small babies, but not enough," he warned. Dr Maynard said the lack of aid has also had a huge impact on his colleagues. "I saw people I'd known for years and I didn't recognise some of them," he added. "Two colleagues had lost 20kg and 30kg respectively. They were shells, they're all hungry. "They're going to work every day, then going home to their tents where they have no food." 3:42 IDF 'shooting Gazans at aid points' Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Maynard claimed Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points "almost like a game of target practice". He has operated on boys as young as 11 who had been "shot at food distribution points" run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. "They had gone to get food for their starving families and they were shot," he said. "I operated on one 12-year-old boy who died on the operating table because his injuries were so severe." 2:54 Dr Maynard continued: "What was even more distressing was the pattern of injuries that we saw, the clustering of injuries to particular body parts on certain days. "One day they'd be coming in predominately with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, another day to the abdomen. "Twelve days ago, four young teenage boys came in, all of whom had been shot in the testicles and deliberately so. "The clustering was far too obvious to be accidental, and it seemed to us like this was almost like a game of target practice. "I would never have believed this possible unless I'd witnessed this with my own eyes." Sky News has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces for comment. An IDF spokesperson previously told Sky News it "strongly rejected" the accusations that its forces were instructed to deliberately shoot at civilians. "To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians," the spokesperson said, adding that the incidents are "being examined by the relevant IDF authorities". 2:10 The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been managing the supply of aid to Gaza since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade in May. It has four aid distribution sites, all of which are located in Israeli military zones, with journalists prohibited from entering. More than 1,000 people have been reported killed while trying to receive food aid since the GHF took over, according to the UN. UNRWA, its relief agency for Gaza, has heavily criticised the scheme. Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said: "The so-called 'GHF' distribution scheme is a sadistic death trap. Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill." facing "mass starvation".
The Independent
3 hours ago
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Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
'Almost like a game of target practice': British surgeon says IDF shooting Gazans at aid points
A British surgeon who recently returned from Gaza has told Sky News that there is "profound malnutrition" among the population - and claims IDF soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points "like a game of target practice". Dr Nick Maynard spent four weeks working inside Nasser Hospital, where a lack of food has left medics struggling to treat children and toddlers. The conditions inside the hospital, in the south of the Strip, have been documented in a Sky News report. 3:49 Dr Maynard told The World with Yalda Hakim: "I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage - and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed. "There were four premature babies who died during the first two weeks when I was in Nasser Hospital - and there will be many, many more deaths until the Israelis allow proper food to get in there." In other developments: • Israel and the US have recalled their teams from Gaza ceasefire talks • US envoy Steve Witkoff has accused Hamas "of failing to act in good faith" • France has announced that it will recognise the state of Palestine • An influential group of MPs is calling on the UK to "immediately" do the same 5:33 'They were shells' Dr Nick Maynard has been going to Gaza for the past 15 years - and this is his third visit to the territory since the war began. The British surgeon added that virtually all of the kids in the paediatric unit of Nasser Hospital are being fed with sugar water. "They've got a small amount of formula feed for very small babies, but not enough," he warned. Dr Maynard said the lack of aid has also had a huge impact on his colleagues. "I saw people I'd known for years and I didn't recognise some of them," he added. "Two colleagues had lost 20kg and 30kg respectively. They were shells, they're all hungry. "They're going to work every day, then going home to their tents where they have no food." 3:42 IDF 'shooting Gazans at aid points' Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Maynard claimed Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points "almost like a game of target practice". He has operated on boys as young as 11 who had been "shot at food distribution points" run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. "They had gone to get food for their starving families and they were shot," he said. "I operated on one 12-year-old boy who died on the operating table because his injuries were so severe." 2:54 Dr Maynard continued: "What was even more distressing was the pattern of injuries that we saw, the clustering of injuries to particular body parts on certain days. "One day they'd be coming in predominately with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, another day to the abdomen. "Twelve days ago, four young teenage boys came in, all of whom had been shot in the testicles and deliberately so. "The clustering was far too obvious to be accidental, and it seemed to us like this was almost like a game of target practice. "I would never have believed this possible unless I'd witnessed this with my own eyes." Sky News has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces for comment. An IDF spokesperson previously told Sky News it "strongly rejected" the accusations that its forces were instructed to deliberately shoot at civilians. "To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians," the spokesperson said, adding that the incidents are "being examined by the relevant IDF authorities". 2:10 The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been managing the supply of aid to Gaza since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade in May. It has four aid distribution sites, all of which are located in Israeli military zones, with journalists prohibited from entering. More than 1,000 people have been reported killed while trying to receive food aid since the GHF took over, according to the UN. UNRWA, its relief agency for Gaza, has heavily criticised the scheme. Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said: "The so-called 'GHF' distribution scheme is a sadistic death trap. Snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a licence to kill." facing "mass starvation".
