
Gaza civil defense says Israeli fire kills 93 aid seekers
80 were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier.
Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP.
The U.N. World Food Program said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire" near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints.
Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City.
Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres.
The U.N. said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys.
Like 'hunting animals'
In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing."
"The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added.
"Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone."
The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable."
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties.
The army says it works to avoid harm to civilians, and that this month it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents.
Israel on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of the head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza.
Papal call
The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a "stray" munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the "barbarity" of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church.
The strike was part of the "ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza," he added.
The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday.
'Expanding' operations
Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area to move south immediately due to imminent operations in the area.
Whole families were seen carrying what few belongings they had on packed donkey carts heading south.
"They threw leaflets at us and we don't know where we are going and we don't have shelter or anything," one man told AFP.
The displacement order was "another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip," the U.N. OCHA said on Sunday.
According to the aid agency, 87.8 percent of Gaza is now under displacement orders or within Israeli militarized zones, leaving "2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed."
The army's latest announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since Oct. 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones.
Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day cease-fire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


LBCI
an hour ago
- LBCI
Jordan's king says Gaza crisis worst in 'modern history'
Jordan's King Abdullah II said Wednesday that the "humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in the Gaza Strip was the worst in modern history. "Gaza is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe that exceeds anything we have witnessed in modern history," the longtime Western ally said, adding that Jordan was in contact with international partners "to pressure for an end to the war", now in its 22nd month. AFP


L'Orient-Le Jour
2 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Belgium asks ICC to look at war crimes claims against 2 Israelis
Belgium said Wednesday it would ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to look into accusations of war crimes leveled against two Israelis who travelled to a Belgian music festival this month. The pair were briefly held for questioning by prosecutors upon attending the electronic dance music festival near Antwerp, following a complaint filed by pro-Palestinian groups who identified them as Israeli soldiers and accused them of violations in Gaza. Authorities initially said they took action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over war crimes cases. But after analyzing the complaints, the federal prosecutor's office said on Wednesday that the justice ministry would refer the cases to the ICC, which is already investigating possible violations of humanitarian law in the Palestinian Territories. "This decision was taken in the interest of the proper administration of justice and in accordance with Belgium's international obligations," the office said. The two Israelis, who have not been named, were held after travelling to Tomorrowland, one of the world's largest electronic dance music festivals. The Israeli foreign ministry described the pair as "an Israeli citizen and an IDF soldier." "The ministry of foreign affairs and the IDF dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two," it added in a statement. Both men were released after questioning by the Belgian authorities and their current whereabouts are unclear. The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation which triggered the investigation, welcomed the referrals but argued Belgium "should have gone further" and prosecuted the pair directly or extradited them to the ICC. "We now urge the ICC to act without delay," it said in a statement. The ICC opened an investigation in 2021 into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian Territories, including in Gaza. In 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the campaign against Hamas in Gaza. At the same time, the ICC issued arrest warrants against three senior Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. All three have since died. The ICC collects potential evidence from many different sources and under its founding statute, anyone — individuals, NGOs, institutions, or governments — can submit whatever they like. It is then up to the prosecutor to decide how credible the source and the information are and whether to use them in a potential case.

L'Orient-Le Jour
2 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Spain to evacuate 13 ill children from Gaza for treatment
A Spanish military plane will fly 13 ailing children from war-torn Gaza and their families from Jordan to Spain for hospital treatment, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said Wednesday. An A400 military transport aircraft is being fitted with medical equipment and is scheduled to depart later Wednesday for Amman to bring them to Spain "so they can be treated," she said. Spain has repeatedly taken in sick children since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza sparked by Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel. The country's leftist government has been among the most vocal critics in the European Union of Israel's ongoing military campaign in the densely populated, narrow coastal strip. "The situation in Gaza is absolutely terrible. The level of cruelty shown by [Benjamin] Netanyahu is absolutely unacceptable, and I believe the international community must respond," Robles said, referring to Israel's prime minister. Earlier this week, the Spanish government said it would airdrop 12 tonnes of food into Gaza as the threat of famine stalks the Palestinian territory after 21 months of war. A similar airdrop of 26 tonnes took place in March 2024. The war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data. In response, Israel launched a war that has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza's Health Ministry.