Six dead after ‘Israeli forces and allies fired at crowd near Gaza aid site'
Palestinians say Israeli forces and allied local gunmen fired toward a crowd heading to an Israeli and US supported food distribution centre in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza's Health Ministry said six people were killed in the reported attack early on Monday.
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The gunmen appeared to be allied with the Israeli military, operating in close proximity to troops and retreating into an Israeli military zone in the southern city of Rafah after the crowd hurled stones at them, witnesses said.
Israeli army vehicles transport a group of soldiers and journalists inside the southern Gaza Strip (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel recently acknowledged supporting local armed groups opposed to Hamas.
– The latest in a string of shootings
It was the latest in a number of shootings that have killed at least 127 people and wounded hundreds since the rollout of a new food distribution system, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
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Israel and the US say the new system is designed to circumvent Hamas, but it has been rejected by the UN and major aid groups.
Experts have meanwhile warned that Israel's blockade and its ongoing military campaign have put Gaza at risk of famine.
Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired toward crowds heading to the food centres since they opened last month.
In previous instances, the Israeli military has said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces near the centres, which are in military zones off limits to independent media.
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The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli and US supported private contractor running the sites, says there has been no violence in or around the centres themselves.
But GHF repeatedly warns would-be food recipients that stepping off the road designated by the military for people to reach the centres represents 'a great danger'.
Palestinians carry bags containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
It paused delivery at its three distribution sites last week to hold discussions with the military about improving safety on the routes.
GHF closed the Rafah site on Monday due to the 'chaos of the crowds', according to a Facebook site associated with the group.
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A GHF spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Shots fired from the 'dangerous zone'
Heba Joda, who was in the crowd Monday, said gunfire broke out at a roundabout where previous shootings have occurred, around a kilometre (half a mile) from the aid site.
She said the shots came from the 'dangerous zone' where Israeli troops and their allies are stationed.
She said she saw men from a local militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab trying to organise the crowds into lines on the road.
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When people pushed forward, the gunmen opened fire. People then hurled stones at them, forcing them to withdraw toward the Israeli positions, she said.
The Abu Shabab group, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the surroundings of the GHF centres in southern Gaza.
Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN aid trucks. GHF has said it does not work with the Abu Shabab group.
Hussein Shamimi, who was also in the crowd, said his 14-year-old cousin was among those killed.
'There was an ambush… the Israelis from one side and Abu Shabab from another,' he said.
Mohamed Kabaga, a Palestinian displaced from northern Gaza, said he saw masked men firing toward the crowds after trying to organise them.
'They fired at us directly,' he said while being treated at Nasser Hospital, in the nearby city of Khan Younis.
He had been shot in the neck, as were three other people seen by an Associated Press journalist at the hospital.
Mr Kabaga said he saw around 50 masked men with 4×4 vehicles in the area around the roundabout, close to Israeli military lines.
'We didn't receive anything,' he said. 'They shot us.'
Nasser Hospital said several men had been shot in the upper body, including some in the head.
Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry's records department, said six people were killed and more than 99 wounded, some of them at another GHF centre in central Gaza.
– The 20-month war rages on
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
They are still holding 55 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's military campaign has killed over 54,900 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead.
It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced some 90% of the population and left the territory almost completely reliant on international aid.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel says it will continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries, a plan rejected by most of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion.
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