20-07-2025
57 Palestinians killed in Israeli fire on crowd waiting for aid
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that 57 people were killed following 'occupation [Israeli] fire directed at people waiting for aid in the Zikim area, northwest of Gaza City.' When contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was 'looking into' the reported incident.
'Thousands of people were gathered, all seeking flour,' said Qassem Abu Khater, who rushed to the scene as soon as he heard about the distribution. 'Tanks were firing randomly at us, and occupation snipers were shooting as if they were hunting wild animals in a forest,' he described. Abu Khater, 36, is from Jabalia in northern Gaza and was displaced by fighting. He now lives in the western part of Gaza City. He said he saw 'dozens of people' die in front of him.
'You ask yourself: should I go back carrying an injured person to save them, or with a bag of flour to save my family and children? My God, what have we been reduced to,' he lamented.
Hamas condemned the incident as a 'massacre.'
Roughly two million Palestinians remain under Israeli siege in Gaza, where famine looms after more than 21 months of war triggered by Hamas's unprecedented cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Cinquante-sept Palestiniens tués dans des tirs israéliens sur une foule attendant de l'aide
