Israeli tanks kill 59 people at Khan Younis aid site in Gaza, local medics say

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Israeli tanks fired into a crowd trying to get aid from trucks in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 59 people, according to medics, in one of the bloodiest incidents yet in mounting violence as desperate residents struggle for food.
The Israeli military, which has been at war with Hamas-led Palestinian militants in Gaza since October 2023, acknowledged firing in the area and said it was looking into the incident.
It is one of the deadliest incidents yet in mounting violence as desperate residents in the Palestinian enclave struggle to get food.
Video shared on social media showed around a dozen mangled bodies lying in a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Witnesses interviewed by Reuters said Israeli tanks had launched at least two shells at a crowd of thousands who had gathered on the main eastern road through Khan Younis in the hope of obtaining food from aid trucks that use the route.
"All of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells," said Alaa, an eyewitness, said at Nasser Hospital, where wounded victims lay sprawled on the floor and in corridors due to the lack of space.
"No one is looking at these people with mercy. The people are dying, they are being torn apart, to get food for their children.
"Look at these people, all these people are torn to get flour to feed their children."
Palestinian medics said at least 59 people were killed and 221 wounded in the incident, at least 20 of them in critical condition.
Casualties were being rushed into the hospital in civilian cars, rickshaws and donkey carts. It was the worst death toll in a single day since aid resumed in Gaza in May.
In a statement, the Israeli military said: "Earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.
"The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd's approach. The details of the incident are under review.
"The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops."
Medics said at least 14 other people were also killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes elsewhere in the densely populated enclave, taking Tuesday's overall death toll to at least 73.
The Hamas-run health ministry said 397 Palestinians, among those trying to get food aid, had been killed and more than 3,000 were wounded since late May.
The incident was the latest in nearly daily large-scale killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on the territory it had imposed for nearly three months.
Reuters