Gaza officials say at least 27 killed in shooting at aid site
Health officials in Gaza say Israeli forces again fired on people heading to an aid site in Rafah on Tuesday, killing at least 27 and wounding over 180, the third time this has happened in the last three days.
The Israeli army said it fired "near a few individual suspects" who left the designated route and approached armed forces.
They say they are looking into reports of casualties and have denied firing on civilians.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a joint US and Israeli backed aid distribution organisation condemned by the UN, is a new operation which Israel says is designed to circumvent Hamas.
The UN has rejected this, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the sites, says there has been no violence in or around them.
On Tuesday, it acknowledged that the Israeli military was investigating whether civilians were wounded "after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone," in an area that was "well beyond our secure distribution site."
The latest incident occurred close to Gaza's southern city of Rafah which is now mostly uninhabited.
Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 wounded people, 19 of whom were declared dead on arrival and eight more who later died of their wounds. The 27 dead were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis.
At least two women who survived the shooting described finding no aid supplies at the site when they got there.
Neima al-Aaraj said: "There were many martyrs and wounded."
Adding: "There was no aid there. After the martyrs and wounded, I won't return, either way we will die."
Tuesday's shooting follows a similar incident on Sunday which killed at least 31 and was disputed by the IDF as well as a second on Monday at the same site which left three dead.
Meanwhile the Israeli military said Tuesday that three of its soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on Israel's forces since it ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March.
The military said the three soldiers, all in their early 20s, fell during combat in northern Gaza on Monday, without providing details. Israeli media reported that they were killed in an explosion in the Jabaliya area.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Channel 4
8 hours ago
- Channel 4
Near famine in Gaza as food hubs suspend aid operations for a day
Near famine on the ground and sheer terror reigning from the skies above – Gazans are in a state of utter desperation. With the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation suspending their aid operations for a day and more airstrikes launched by Israel there appears to be no end to the suffering. A warning this report contains distressing imagery. Reporter: Secunder Kermani Producers: Melina Havoutis, Yousef Hammash Picture Editor: Manos Koutsavakis
The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
The starvation of Gaza is a manmade catastrophe that shames us all
Whatever else may be concluded about the shooting of Palestinian civilians at, or near, aid centres in Gaza, they do not suggest that sufficient humanitarian aid is being delivered in a timely and efficient manner. As has been widely proposed, a fully independent inquiry is needed before the claims and counterclaims about responsibility can be settled. But, for the time being, the efforts of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to replace the United Nations have proved to be utterly inadequate. That, of course, may turn out to be a wildly generous understatement if it is indeed proved that the Israel Defense Forces committed war crimes in these most pitiful and unforgivable of circumstances. From what can be discerned from the reportage, the verdict of the International Red Cross on the situation appears accurate – 'worse than hell on earth'. It bears repeating that Israel, too, suffered its own atrocities on 7 October 2023 – but its conduct of the war waged since has become increasingly indefensible, intolerable and counterproductive to its interests. It is a total catastrophe for all involved, most of all the vulnerable non-combatants. The death toll across three major incidents at GHF sites amounts to about 60 people, and each and every case must be properly investigated. The Red Cross – not Hamas – says that, for example, its medical teams in Rafah treated 184 patients, including 19 people dead on arrival and eight others who died of their wounds shortly afterwards. This represents the highest figure for casualties from a single incident at the field hospital since it was established last year. And, of course, there are countless Palestinians far from even a GHF base, with no hospital facilities to speak of, and still under constant bombardment. They cannot all be terrorists – and they cannot be dismissed as mere inevitable collateral damage. These are human lives, and, as the universal phrase goes, they matter. In due course, a more comprehensive accounting for the actions of the Israeli authorities will also have to be made, taking full account of the terrorist threat they face, but not thereby absolving Israel's government and its agencies for everything they have done. Israel's friends and partners across the world, as well as its own people, cannot adopt a 'Netanyahu, right or wrong' approach, in which every single action and incident is justified by the 7 October massacres and kidnappings. Perhaps the most emphatic admission of failure by the GHF is that such operations as it has been undertaking – and they are grossly inadequate to the task – have been suspended. So, at least no Gazans will be shot trying to get their hands on food, but they and their families will stay hungry. Indeed, so hungry that malnutrition, especially of children among many thousands of people, and famine stalk the land. The Palestinians of Gaza, their homeland, face what the UN calls a 'hunger crisis' and 'critical famine risk'. The Israeli government knows this. The Arab states in the region know this. The whole world knows this. We see the television images of emaciated infants. Not even the White House can deny these realities. And yet nothing happens. We should be clear at least about how things will develop in this medieval-style siege if the world fails to pressure Israel into relenting and permitting the UN agencies and charities to resume their work immediately. For some, it is too late – but for the living, it is never too late. The aid is waiting to pour into the territory, all parts of it, not just the cynically misnomered 'safe zones'. To make the aid effort fully effective would mean a ceasefire, and the restoration of medical facilities and the means for a civilised existence – principally, shelter. It is not, in that sense, the kind of hopeless, overbearing situation that follows some environmental disaster – a flood, a terrible hurricane or a drought. This is a manmade catastrophe and could be stopped in short order with the political will to do so. Such political will does not exist within the Israeli government. One reason why the war has gone on for as long as it has, and with such pain and destruction, is that it suits Benjamin Netanyahu's domestic political interests. The secondary reason is that the United States has acquiesced in much of what he does, which was true of the Biden administration and is even more the case under Donald Trump. However, recent weeks have shown the limits to American forbearance and the failure of Mr Netanyahu to stabilise the situation. Some of the hostages have still not been released, and Hamas still operates, as it will even if every one of its leaders is eliminated. Israel has lost the chance to build peace with its neighbours, and is less secure than it was before 7 October, even if Iran is temporarily disarmed. At that time, it would have been inconceivable that Israel would stand accused at the International Criminal Court of such grievous atrocities, that more of its European allies would recognise the Palestinian state, or that they'd be openly discussing arms embargoes and sanctions. Since 7 October, Mr Netanyahu has played into the hands of Hamas, who wished for nothing more than for Israel to lash out, provoke Arab and Muslim opinion, outrage the West and become the perpetrator, not the victim, of terror. All the goodwill that was shown, rightly, on 7 October has been squandered. In other words, it is in the interests of Israel itself to cease the fighting and allow the aid to come through to what the UN calls 'the hungriest place on Earth'. But who can and who will make Mr Netanyahu see sense?
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
UN Security Council will vote on a resolution demanding a Gaza ceasefire, with US veto expected
The U.N. Security Council will vote Wednesday on a resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and the Trump administration is expected to veto it because it does not link the ceasefire to the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. The resolution before the U.N.'s most powerful body also does not condemn Hamas' deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war, or say the militant group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza — two other U.S. demands. The U.S. vetoed the last resolution on Gaza in November, under the Biden administration, because the ceasefire demand was not directly linked to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Similarly, the current resolution demands those taken by Hamas and other groups be released, but it does not make it a condition for a truce. Calling the humanitarian situation in Gaza 'catastrophic,' the resolution, put forth by the 15-member council's 10 elected members, also calls for 'the immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the U.N. and humanitarian partners.' President Donald Trump's administration has tried to ramp up its efforts to broker peace in Gaza after 20 months of war. However, Hamas has sought amendments to a U.S. proposal that special envoy Steve Witkoff has called 'totally unacceptable.' The vote follows a decision by an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation to pause food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health officials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israel and the United States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid previously distributed by the U.N. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis, allows Israel to use aid as a weapon and doesn't comply with the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. The U.N. says its distribution system throughout Gaza worked very well during the March ceasefire and is carefully monitored. The resolution demands the restoration of all essential humanitarian services in line with humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and U.N. Security Council resolutions. Several U.N. diplomats from different countries, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, said they expect the United States to veto the resolution. They also said they expect a similar vote to the one in November, when the 14 other council members supported the resolution. Israel's U.N. Mission said Ambassador Danny Danon, who will speak after the vote, will say the resolution undermines humanitarian relief efforts and ignores Hamas, which is still endangering civilians in Gaza. He also will say the resolution disregards the ceasefire negotiations that are already underway, the mission said. Gaza's roughly 2 million people are almost completely reliant on international aid because Israel's offensive has destroyed nearly all food production capabilities. Israel imposed a blockade on supplies into Gaza on March 2, and limited aid began to enter again late last month after pressure from allies and warnings of famine. 'The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,' U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement Wednesday. He called for a flood of aid to be let in and for the world body to be the one delivering it. The Security Council has voted on 14 Gaza-related resolutions and approved four since the war began. That is when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers. ___
