US-Israeli backed Gaza aid centres to close temporarily after Israel kills 27 Palestinians - War on Gaza
Aid centres in hunger-wracked Gaza will temporarily close on Wednesday, a controversial US-Israeli backed agency said, with the Israeli army warning roads leading to distribution stations "are considered combat zones".
Twenty-seven people were killed in southern Gaza on Tuesday when Israeli troops opened fire near one of the centres operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The GHF said its "distribution centres will be closed for renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work" on Wednesday and would resume operations on Thursday.
The Israeli army, which confirmed the temporary closure, warned against travelling "on roads leading to the distribution centres, which are considered combat zones".
The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations a week ago but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Following Tuesday's deadly incident near one of GHF's centres, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried the killing of Palestinians seeking food aid as "unacceptable".
Israeli authorities and the GHF -- which uses contracted US security -- have denied accusations that the Israeli army shot at civilians rushing to pick up aid packages at GHF sites. The Israeli army has said the incident is under investigation.
'A trap'
At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed in the shooting at Rafah's Al-Alam roundabout near GHF's facility, were beside themselves with grief.
"She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her," her son Zain Zidan said, his face streaked with tears.
Akhras's husband, Mohamed Zidan, said "every day unarmed people" were being killed.
"This is not humanitarian aid -- it's a trap."
Army spokesperson Effie Defrin said the Israeli soldiers had fired towards suspects who "were approaching in a way that endangered" the troops, adding that the "incident is being investigated".
UN human rights chief Volker Turk called such attacks against civilians "unconscionable" and said they "constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime".
The International Committee of the Red Cross meanwhile said "Gazans face an "unprecedented scale and frequency of recent mass casualty incidents".
Relief boat
The United States said Tuesday that a US-backed relief effort in Gaza was succeeding in distributing meals but acknowledged the potential for improvement after the reports of shootings near the GHF centre.
A boat organised by an international activist coalition was meanwhile sailing toward Gaza, aiming to deliver aid.
The boat from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition departed Sicily Sunday carrying a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, along with fruit juices, milk, tinned food and protein bars.
"Together, we can open a people's sea corridor to Gaza," the coalition said.
But Israel's military said Tuesday it was ready to "protect" the country's maritime space.
When asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel, army spokesman Defrin said "for this case as well, we are prepared", declining to go into detail.
The health ministry in Gaza said at least 4,240 people have been killed since Israel resumed its war on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,510 Palestinians.
The army said three of its soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the territory since the start of the war to 424.
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