17 killed in Gaza as Palestinians scramble for ‘drop in the ocean' food aid
At least 17 people were killed as they approached an aid site in Gaza.
The Israeli military described the roads leading to the sites as military zones.
Witnesses said at least 40 trucks carrying flour for UN warehouses were looted.
Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded dozens of others as thousands of displaced people approached an aid distribution site of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in central Gaza on Tuesday, local health authorities said.
Medics said the casualties were rushed at two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the Al-Quds in Gaza City, in the north.
The Israeli military said they are looking into the incident.
Last week it warned Palestinians not to approach routes leading to GHF sites between 18:00 and 06:00 local time, describing these roads as closed military zones.
There was no immediate GHF comment on Tuesday's incident.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.
However, many Gazans say they have to walk for hours to reach the sites, meaning they have to start travelling well before dawn if they are to stand any chance of receiving food.
While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence.
'I went there at 2am hoping to get some food, on my way there, I saw people returning empty-handed, they said aid packages have run out in five minutes, this is insane and isn't enough,' said Mohammad Abu Amr, 40, a father of two.
'Dozens of thousands arrive from the central areas and from the northern areas too, some of them walked for over 20km, only to come back home with disappointment,' he told Reuters via a chat app.
He said he heard the firing but didn't see what happened.
Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel allowed limited UN-led operations to resume on 19 May after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms.
The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as 'drop in the ocean'.
Witnesses said at least 40 trucks carrying flour for UN warehouses were looted by desperate displaced Palestinians as well as thieves near Nabulsi roundabout along the coastal road in Gaza City.
AFP reported that the Israeli military said it intercepted a 'projectile' on Tuesday that had entered Israeli airspace from Gaza, where it has fought Palestinian militant group Hamas for more than 20 months.
'Following the sirens that sounded at 10:53am (07:53 GMT) in the area of the Zikim beach, one projectile that crossed from the northern Gaza Strip into Israeli territory was intercepted,' the military said.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1 200 people, most of them civilians, in the 7 October 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day.
Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54 000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.
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