Israel denies firing on civilians near Gaza aid distribution site
Israel has denied claims that its forces opened fire on people near an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27, in a third such incident in three days.
The Israeli army said it fired "near a few individual suspects" who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.
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 bodies of the 27 dead have been transferred to Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, according to AP.
The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of casualties on Tuesday. It previously said it fired warning shots at suspects who approached its forces early Sunday and Monday, when health officials and witnesses said 34 people were killed.
The military denies opening fire on civilians or blocking them from reaching the aid sites.
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 shootings all occurred at the Flag Roundabout, around a kilometre from one of the GHF's distribution sites in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.
The latest incident has come after an Israeli and US-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system Israel says is designed to circumvent Hamas and prevent its militants from war profiteering and strengthening the group that way.
The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn't address Gaza's mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.
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.
Israel ended the ceasefire in March after Hamas refused to change the agreement to release more hostages sooner.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage in the 7 October 2023 attack into southern Israel that ignited the Israel-Hamas war. 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.
Some 54,000 Palestinians have been killed during the 20-month war, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel has challenged its numbers.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. Around 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the 7 October attack, including more than 400 during the fighting inside Gaza.
Residents in western Turkey and the Greek islands were shaken awake on Monday evening when a strong 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted the Turkish coastal town of Marmaris.
A 14-year-old girl died in the town of Fethiye after the quake, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, despite being taken to the hospital. She had suffered a panic attack.
The quake, which had a depth of 68 km according to the European Seismological Centre, was felt across the Dodecanese islands.
At least 69 people were injured after attempting to jump from heights due to panic caused by the tremors, which were strongly felt on the Greek island of Rhodes — the largest of the Dodecanese islands near the Turkish border.
No injuries were reported in Rhodes; however, tourists visiting the island said they woke up to violent shaking.
Travel agency TUI cautioned tourists in the region to 'remain calm and follow any safety instructions provided by your accommodation or local officials.'
Greek seismologist Efthimios Lekkas told ERT News that the earthquake's depth caused it to be felt across a wider area.
"It will not have a significant impact on the surface, there will be no tsunami, and above all, there will not be a rich aftershock sequence," he noted.
Due to its significant depth, the quake "was very intense for the residents of Rhodes and its surrounding areas. From here on, there will not be any major damage."
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