Palestinians say Israeli forces fired toward crowds near Gaza aid site, killing 3
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian health officials and witnesses say Israeli forces fired toward crowds making their way to a food distribution point run by an Israeli and U.S.-supported group in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding scores.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people it referred to as suspects who it said had advanced toward its troops hundreds of meters (yards) from the aid site prior to its opening hours.
Experts and humanitarian aid workers say Israel's blockade and 20-month military campaign have pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
Around 130 people have been killed in a number of shootings near aid sites run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are in military zones that are off-limits to independent media. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions at people who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
The foundation says there has been no violence in or around the distribution points themselves. But it has warned people to stay on designated access routes and it paused delivery last week while it held talks with the military on improving safety.
'People are killed just trying to get food'
Two men and a child were killed and at least 130 were wounded on Tuesday, according to Nader Garghoun, a spokesperson for the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. He said most were being treated for gunshot wounds.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire at around 2 a.m., several hundred meters (yards) from the aid site in central Gaza. Crowds of Palestinians seeking desperately needed food often head to the sites hours before dawn, hoping to beat the crowds.
Mohammed Abu Hussein, a resident of the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp, said Israeli drones and tanks opened fire, and that he saw five people wounded by gunshots.
Abed Haniyah, another witness, said Israeli forces opened fire 'indiscriminately' as thousands of people were attempting to reach the food site.
'What happens every day is humiliation," he said. "Every day, people are killed just trying to get food for their children.'
The U.N. has rejected the new aid system
Israel and the United States say they set up the new food distribution system to prevent Hamas from stealing humanitarian aid and using it to finance militant activities.
The United Nations, which runs a longstanding system capable of delivering aid to all parts of Gaza, says there is no evidence of any systematic diversion.
U.N. agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to decide who receives aid and by forcing Palestinians to relocate to just three currently operational sites.
The other two distribution sites are in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, which Israel has transformed into a military zone. Israeli forces maintain an outer perimeter around all three hubs, and Palestinians must pass close to them to reach the distribution points.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of creating a 'sterile zone' in Rafah free of Hamas and of moving the territory's entire population there. He has also said Israel will facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians to other countries — plans rejected by much of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as forcible expulsion.
Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. They still hold 55 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead, but doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population, often multiple times.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Indian authorities begin probe of Air India plane crash as Modi visits the site
NEW DEHI (AP) — Authorities began investigating one of India's worst aviation disasters after an Air India plane crashed a day earlier that killed all but one of the 242 passengers and crew onboard, officials said Friday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site. The Indian government has launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound Air India plane that came down in a in a residential area in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff on Thursday. Officials said most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a statement on the social media said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has initiated the probe in line with global protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. A team from the U.S. is expected in India to help with the probe. The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric are all sending experts. There was no update on retrieving the black boxes, the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, as authorities continued searching the crash site. Akshay Dongardiv, national president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, said medics had begun conducting DNA tests as grieving families gathered outside the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday. The plane hit a building hosting a medical college hostel and burst into flames, killing several college students on the ground. Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Modi visited the crash site and the local government hospital where the injured are being treated. He is scheduled to hold a meeting with senior officials later in the day. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah confirmed that he met the sole survivor at the hospital. A doctor said he had examined the survivor, whom he identified as Vishwashkumar Ramesh. 'He was disoriented with multiple injuries all over his body,' Dr. Dhaval Gameti told The Associated Press. 'But he seems to be out of danger.' Another medic said Ramesh told him that immediately after the plane took off, it began descending and suddenly split in two, throwing him out before a loud explosion. Thursday's Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. The cause of the crash remains unclear. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft. According to experts, there are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide, and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation.
San Francisco Chronicle
12 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Louisiana AG investigating CVS for sending mass text messages lobbying against legislation
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Thursday she is investigating whether pharmaceutical giant CVS improperly used customers' personal information to send out text messages lobbying against a proposed state law. Murrill also said she plans to issue a cease-and-desist letter to the company to stop the messages. As lawmakers debated a now-failed bill on Wednesday they held up screenshots of text messages sent by CVS. 'Last minute legislation in Louisiana threatens to close your CVS Pharmacy — your medication cost may go up and your pharmacist may lose their job,' one such text, obtained by The Associated Press, read. Bill would have banned ownership of both drug stores and pharmacy benefit managers The proposed legislation would have prohibited companies from owning both pharmacy benefit managers and drug stores. The CVS Health Corporation owns retail pharmacies as well as CVS Caremark, one the country's top three pharmacy benefit managers with a market share of more than 100 million members. CVS Caremark and other managers serve as middlemen purchasing prescription drugs from manufacturers and setting the terms for how they are distributed to customers. 'These powerful middlemen may be profiting by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies,' a 2024 Federal Trade Commission report warned. CVS says on its website that it 'negotiates lower costs for our customers and expands coverage to affordable medications that people need to stay healthy.' CVS texts included a draft letter opposing the bill The company's text messages to Louisiana residents included a link to a draft letter urging lawmakers to oppose the legislation that someone could sign with their email address and send to legislators. 'The proposed legislation would take away my and other Louisiana patients' ability to get our medications shipped right to our homes,' the letter read. 'They would also ban the pharmacies that serve patients suffering from complex diseases requiring specialty pharmacy care to manage their life-threatening conditions like organ transplants or cancer. These vulnerable patients cannot afford any disruption to their care – the consequences would be dire.' Rep. Dixon McMakin pointed to some of the messages from CVS, saying they were misleading and false. He specifically pointed to ads, that people reported seeing on social media, alleging that lawmakers 'may shut down every CVS pharmacy in the state.' 'No we're not, you liars. Quit being liars. Quit using scare tactics,' McMakin said. A GOP lawmaker received one of the texts Republican Rep. Bryan Fontenot held up his phone, showing that he, too, had received a text message from CVS. 'It's in the same text thread (used) to notify when my prescription is filled,' he said. 'They've now taken that to send me political texts.' CVS sent messages to 'large numbers" of state employees and their families to lobby against proposed legislation involving the company's pharmaceutical benefits manager, Murrill said in an X post. Customers gave CVS their phone numbers to receive pharmaceutical information such as vaccine availability or prescription pick-ups but the company is using this personal information 'for their own personal corporate interests against pending legislation,' Murrill told reporters. 'That's not why anybody gave them their phone number.' Amy Thibault, a spokesperson for CVS, said the texts were the result of a last-minute amendment to the bill Wednesday without an opportunity for a public hearing. The amendment was crafted behind closed-doors by a conference committee — a regular practice utilized in the statehouse when the House and Senate cannot agree on final versions of a bill. 'We believe we have a responsibility to inform our customers of misguided legislation that seeks to shutter their trusted pharmacy, and we acted accordingly,' Thibault said in an email. 'Our communication with our customers, patients and members of our community is consistent with law.' Landry says he may call special session The bill, which proponents said would bolster independent pharmacies and reduce the cost of prescription medications, received overwhelming approval in the House, with a vote of 88-4. Among those who voted against the measure was Rep. Mandie Landry. The Democrat said that while she wanted to vote in favor, but she was receiving messages from people in her district urging her not to. She said CVS's lobbying had reached them and as a result they feared that they wouldn't be able to access their medications. 'CVS … you should be so ashamed of this. You are scaring people,' Landry said. The bill ultimately died with the Senate opting not to take it up in the final hour of the 2025 session. Landry said he plans to call a special session in hopes of passing similar legislation. 'Yes we will have a special to lower prescription drugs for our citizens," Landry said a statement. "It's that important.' Brook reported from New Orleans. ___
Associated Press
18 hours ago
- Associated Press
House passes bill to to combat fentanyl trafficking, sending it to Trump's desk
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation Thursday that would solidify federal policies cracking down on the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its analogs in a bid by lawmakers to combat the nation's opioid epidemic. The HALT Fentanyl Act makes permanent a 2018 emergency rule that classifies knockoffs of fentanyl as Schedule I controlled substances, which results in harsher sentences for possession of the drug. The bill passed the House 321-104 and now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. The legislation, which applies to what are known as known as 'fentanyl-related substances,' garnered support from nearly every Republican and many Democrats despite concerns that the bill does not address the root issues at hand and will add to problems in the criminal justice system. Senate Majority Leader John Thune hailed passage of the bill and promised more legislative action to come. 'I don't need to tell anybody about the horrible impact of drug overdoses in this country, many of them caused by fentanyl,' Thune said on the Senate floor. 'In the coming weeks, we'll be taking up legislation to address another aspect of the fight: securing our borders,' a nod to Republicans' tax package, which includes billions of dollars in additional immigration enforcement and border security funding. Proponents of the legislation argue that the bill will make it easier to stop drug traffickers by making the federal emergency rules permanent. Opponents say the framework does little to stem the epidemic and warn it will make it harder to conduct important research. Congress has regularly renewed the emergency rules since 2018, meaning there is no immediate change to federal policy. The bill does not include increased funding for law enforcement to conduct anti-drug trafficking efforts, nor funding for public health efforts meant to reduce fentanyl addiction and deaths. The bill's supporters say that the reclassification will give anti-trafficking efforts clearer standards to operate under as law enforcement combats the trade. Federal, state and local law enforcement have sought to break up the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. by targeting Mexican drug cartels and local gangs. The Trump administration has declared stemming the flow of fentanyl precursors from China a priority in trade talks with Beijing, an effort that follows a spate of initiatives by the Biden administration to reduce the importation of such substances into the U.S. from China and other illegal supply chains. 'A loophole that the cartels have tried to use to drive their illicit fentanyl into our country is by changing one part of the fentanyl chemical structure to create fentanyl analogs,' said GOP Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith, one of the bill's co-sponsors, during Wednesday's debate on the House floor. 'The cartels did this in an attempt to evade our criminal laws,' said Griffith, who argued that the bill would help prevent further fentanyl deaths and increase the potential for research into the drug and related substances. And lawmakers appealed to the human cost of fentanyl smuggling. 'We must give our law enforcement the tools to combat this problem. This bill does exactly that,' said GOP California Rep. Jay Obernolte, a co-sponsor of the bill. Obernolte recounted the stories of families impacted by fentanyl overdoses in his district and noted that more than 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year, mostly from fentanyl. The bill 'gives our law enforcement agencies the tools that they need to begin dealing with this problem,' Obernolte said. Democratic New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone said during debate that he opposed the bill because it uniformly criminalizes fentanyl related substances. Pallone said it will impede potential research into their benefits rather than provide an 'offramp to substances found to have potential medical applications.' Pallone also chided Republicans for saying they aimed to tackle the opioid epidemic while supporting the Trump administration's cuts to federal agencies tasked with research and public health policy. 'This Republican bill would also exacerbate inequities in our criminal justice system because drugs placed on Schedule I include mandatory minimum sentencing,' Pallone said. 'The bill is essentially recycling an incarceration first response to what I consider mainly a public health challenge.' Schedule I drugs are substances considered by the Drug Enforcement Agency to have 'no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.' Possession of a Schedule I drug is considered a felony and can be prosecuted as drug smuggling. Drugs currently classified as Schedule I include heroin, marijuana and methaqualone. Fentanyl itself is classified as a Schedule II drug, which the DEA designates as having 'a high potential for abuse.' Schedule II substances include cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and Adderall.
