 "Representational image. AFP")
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians, including four children, while 24 others were shot dead while travelling to an aid distribution site, according to Palestinian medical authorities and witnesses on Saturday.
The children and two women were among at least 13 Palestinians killed in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, when Israeli airstrikes began late Friday, according to authorities at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. According to Nasser Hospital, 15 others were killed in airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.
According to medical authorities and witnesses, at least 24 Palestinians were slain on their route to a food distribution site near Rafah run by an Israeli-backed American organisation. Israel’s military claimed it fired warning shots at those it suspected of acting suspiciously in order to keep them from approaching. It said that it was unaware of any casualties.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stated that no incidents happened near its facilities.
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would bring the release of more hostages from Gaza and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough. The militant group still holds some 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive.
More killings near American-run aid site
The 21-month war has left much of Gaza’s population of over 2 million reliant on outside aid while food security experts warn of famine. Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after ending the latest ceasefire in March.
Impact Shorts
View AllThe fatal shootings of 24 people occurred in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, hundreds of meters (yards) from the food distribution site, Israel’s military said.
A GHF spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the group’s policies, said: “We checked with our extended team and this incident didn’t happen near our sites.”
Witnesses said they were shot at while on their way to the site seeking food.
Abdullah al-Haddad said he was 200 meters (655 feet) from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area, west of Rafah, when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians.
“We were together, and they shot us at once,” he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital.
Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel’s military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started.
Sumaya al-Sha’er’s 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed in the shooting, hospital officials said.
“He said to me, ‘Mom, you don’t have flour and today I’ll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I’ll go and get it,’” she said. “But he never came back home.”
Until then, she said, she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous. But food supplies were running out.
Witnesses, health officials and U.N. officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media. The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
The GHF denies there has been violence in or around its sites in the past. But two of its contractors told the AP that their colleagues have fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, allegations denied by the foundation.
In a separate effort, the U.N. and aid groups say they are struggling to distribute humanitarian aid because of Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.
The first fuel — 150,000 liters — entered Gaza this week after 130 days, a joint statement by U.N. aid bodies said, calling it a small amount for the “the backbone of survival in Gaza.” Fuel runs hospitals, water systems, transport and more, the statement said.
New warning along Gaza’s coast
Israel’s military said that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in Gaza including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas sites.
Also on Saturday, the military announced strict restrictions along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast and called on fishermen, swimmers and divers not to go to sea.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and abducted 251.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.