Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 20 waiting for aid
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where many were waiting to reach an aid distribution site.
Bassal said that "20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire" were taken to nearby hospitals.
Ahmed al-Farra, head of the paediatric department at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Yunis, told AFP that people "are hungry, they didn't get any food since nearly four months ago".
In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on the Gaza Strip amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
"All the borders are closed and this is the only way to get aid," Farra said of US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites.
"And when they get there they are killed by snipers, as you can see."
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had received 200 people at its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area near Rafah, without elaborating on the circumstances.
In a statement on X, it said it was "the highest number received by the Red Cross Field Hospital in one mass casualty incident".
Red Cross teams also treated 170 patients at the hospital on Sunday, "many of whom were wounded by gunshots, and who reported that they were trying to access a food distribution site", the statement said.
Israel has faced mounting international pressure over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which the United Nations described in May as "the hungriest place on Earth".
The GHF began distributing aid in late May, but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and dozens of deaths.
The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the organisation citing neutrality issues they say violate humanitarian principles.
'Intense hostilities'
Following previous incidents around GHF sites, the Israeli military has said its troops fired warning shots and were reacting to people approaching them in a way they considered threatening.
Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and other difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.
The ICRC said in its statement that "civilians continue to be killed and injured as intense hostilities continue. Due to the ongoing restrictions of humanitarian assistance, people are also struggling to access basic goods, including fuel".
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 55,432 people have been killed in the territory since the start of the war, which is now in its 21st month.
Of those, 5,139 have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 following a truce.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to official Israeli figures.
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France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
At least 34 Palestinians killed in new shootings near Gaza food distribution centres
At least 34 Palestinians were killed Monday in new shootings on the roads leading to Israeli- and US-supported food distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, the local Health Ministry said. As on previous days, witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire in an attempt to control crowds. The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centres. The ministry says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centres, run by the private contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, opened three weeks ago. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. Gaza's health ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another en route to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere. Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians gathered around 4am at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food centre, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the crowd. People fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. 'Fire was coming from everywhere,' said Jouda, who has repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over the past week. "It's getting worse day by day," she said. The Red Cross field hospital nearby received some 200 wounded Monday, the highest single mass casualty event, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. Only a day earlier, it said, around 170 were brought to the facility, most of them wounded by gunshots while trying to reach the GHF centre. The health ministry toll made it the deadliest day around the food sites since June 2, when 31 people were killed. The Flag Roundabout, hundreds of metres (yards) from the GHF centre, has been a repeated scene of shootings. It is on the route designated by the Israeli military for people to take to reach the centre. Palestinians over the past weeks have said Israeli troops open fire to prevent people from moving past a certain point on the road before the scheduled opening of the centre or because people leave the road. A GHF spokesperson told the Associated Press on Sunday that 'none of the incidents to date have occurred at our sites or during operating hours'. It said the incidents have involved aid-seekers who were moving 'during prohibited times ... or trying to take a short cut'. It said it was trying to improve safety measures, including by recently moving the opening times from nighttime to daylight hours. Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves. UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it can't meet the territory's needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas. Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month. Experts have warned that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some 2 million Palestinians, at risk of famine.
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 20 waiting for aid
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah, where many were waiting to reach an aid distribution site. Bassal said that "20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire" were taken to nearby hospitals. Ahmed al-Farra, head of the paediatric department at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Yunis, told AFP that people "are hungry, they didn't get any food since nearly four months ago". In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on the Gaza Strip amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May. "All the borders are closed and this is the only way to get aid," Farra said of US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites. "And when they get there they are killed by snipers, as you can see." Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had received 200 people at its field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area near Rafah, without elaborating on the circumstances. In a statement on X, it said it was "the highest number received by the Red Cross Field Hospital in one mass casualty incident". Red Cross teams also treated 170 patients at the hospital on Sunday, "many of whom were wounded by gunshots, and who reported that they were trying to access a food distribution site", the statement said. Israel has faced mounting international pressure over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which the United Nations described in May as "the hungriest place on Earth". The GHF began distributing aid in late May, but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and dozens of deaths. The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the organisation citing neutrality issues they say violate humanitarian principles. 'Intense hostilities' Following previous incidents around GHF sites, the Israeli military has said its troops fired warning shots and were reacting to people approaching them in a way they considered threatening. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and other difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency. The ICRC said in its statement that "civilians continue to be killed and injured as intense hostilities continue. Due to the ongoing restrictions of humanitarian assistance, people are also struggling to access basic goods, including fuel". The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 55,432 people have been killed in the territory since the start of the war, which is now in its 21st month. Of those, 5,139 have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 following a truce. The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to official Israeli figures.
France 24
13 hours ago
- France 24
Ireland prepares to excavate 'mass grave' at mother and baby home
A crew sealed off the site in Tuam, 135 miles (220 kilometres) west of Dublin, in preparation for beginning to dig for any remains next month. In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless produced evidence that 796 children, from newborns to a nine-year-old, died at Tuam's mother and baby home. Her research pointed to the children's likely final resting place -- a disused septic tank discovered in 1975. Significant quantities of baby remains were discovered in an apparently makeshift crypt at the site during test excavations between 2016 and 2017. The home was run by Catholic nuns between 1925 and 1961, and the site was left largely untouched after the institution was knocked down in 1972. It was Corless's discovery of the unmarked mass burial site that led to an Irish Commission of Investigation into the so-called mother and baby home. n findings published in 2021, the commission said there had been "disquieting" levels of infant mortality at the institutions. "It's been a fierce battle. When I started this nobody wanted to listen. At last we are righting the wrongs," Corless, 71, told AFP last month in Tuam. "I was just begging 'Take the babies out of this sewage system and give them the decent Christian burial that they were denied'," she said. Babies taken from mothers Women who became pregnant out of wedlock were siloed in the so-called mother and baby homes by Irish society, the state and the Catholic church, which has historically held an iron grip on Irish social attitudes. After giving birth at the homes, mothers were then separated from their newborn children, who were often given up for adoption. The state-backed enquiries sparked by the discoveries in Tuam found that 56,000 unmarried women and 57,000 children passed through 18 such homes over the space of 76 years. The commission's report concluded that 9,000 children had died in the homes across Ireland. Often church and state worked in tandem to run the institutions, which still operated in Ireland as recently as 1998. A team was finally appointed in 2023 to lead the Tuam site excavation. It is tasked with recovering, memorialising and re-burying any remains recovered at the site. Sample DNA will be taken from people who have reasonable grounds to believe the remains are those of a close relative. © 2025 AFP
