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Israeli forces killed more than 51 Palestinians and injured much more after opening fire near a help distribution site in the south of Gaza, according to witnesses and rescuers.
The Civil Defense Agency led by Hamas said that Israeli troops have shot crowds near the Khan Younis help site. More than 200 people were reportedly injured.
The Israeli army told the BBC that it examined reports.
It is the last and potentially the deadliest of the almost daily shots that took place recently near the aid distribution sites in Gaza.
Almost all Gaza victims in recent days have been linked to the delivery of aid rather than Israeli strikes on Hamas targets.
Witnesses say that Israeli forces have opened fire and bombed an area near an east junction of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had gathered in the hope of obtaining flour from a global food program (WFP), which also includes nearby community cuisine.
A local journalist and eye witnesses said that Israeli drones had drawn two missiles, followed shortly after by a shell of an Israeli reservoir positioned between 400 and 500 meters from the crowd. The explosions caused many victims.
The crowd had gathered near a key road leading to the city of Bani Suheila, an area that has experienced weeks of Israeli military operations in progress.
The Nasser Hospital, the main functional medical establishment in the region, was overwhelmed by the number of victims. He is so overcrowded that the many injured are lying on the ground while the medical staff treat his injuries.
A video showing the immediate consequences of the incident and shared on social networks was located by the BBC check in a place in Khan Younis. The spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense Agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that at least 50 people had been killed. “Israeli drones shot citizens. A few minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells on citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded,” he said.
In a statement, the FDIs said that “a rally was identified alongside a aid distribution truck which found itself stuck in the Khan Younis region, and near the FDI troops operating in the region”.
He said he was “aware of reports on a number of people injured in Fid Fire after the crowd approach” and the incident was being examined.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had received information reporting a mass incident.
“It is again the result of another food distribution initiative,” said Thanos Gargavanis, who has a surgeon and an emergency official.
“There is a constant correlation with the positions of the four announced food distribution sites and mass incidents,” he added, saying that trauma injuries in recent days came mainly from ball injuries.
For weeks, medical staff have warned that the Nasser hospital could be exceeded and unable to continue to operate under pressure from several victims, the lack of medical supplies and Israeli evacuation orders in the surrounding region.
In recent days, the hospital has faced an almost daily influx of victims of firing incidents near the aid distribution sites led by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – supported by Israel and the United States – in the South and the center of Gaza.
In almost all these incidents, witnesses said that Israeli troops opened fire, although it was also reported by local armed men who shoot people.
The FDI’s response was generally to say that his troops warned people not to approach them – then drew warning plans when the FDI calls “suspects” acted in a threat. The Israeli army has provided little or no details beyond that.
Israel does not allow international press organizations, including the BBC, in Gaza, which makes the verification of what is happening difficult.
The GHF also responded to the shots by saying that they should not be mentioned as part of their operations, because the incidents take place far from their sites.
But there is no doubt that thousands of Palestinians would not be gathered in desperate research of limited food supplies in these areas if it was not the way the new distribution system was put in place.
The FDI also told the Palestinians not to go to distribution sites between 6:00 p.m. and 6 a.m., local time. But to reach sites and have a chance to get food, people have little option.
The verified video of GHF sites has huge crowds of Palestinians rushing to try to obtain food parcels without apparent organization of the organization. He has already closed his sites briefly on at least twice to try to improve security.
The other way to get help from Gaza – with around 100 trucks per day authorized by Israel – has also seen people get shot on them while trying to reach supplies, whether from distribution points or the help convoy itself when it goes to them.
This is a sign of a safe ventilation in Gaza and in the aid distribution system itself.
Hamas responded to the last incident by describing aid centers again as death traps.
The looting among a desperate population of rare food supplies – with criminal gangs, militias and Hamas also operating for their own ends – has made the situation even more perilous.
Critics consider GHF to allow a plan of the Israeli government to move the South Palestinians to small regions of Gaza. But Israel – who has long sought to withdraw the UN as the main humanitarian supplier of the Palestinians – maintains that the alternative system was necessary to prevent Hamas theft.
On Monday, the United Nations Human Rights Head, Volker Turk said ISRAEL armed food and called for a complete shots.
The head of UNRWA – The United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees – Philippe Lazzarini said that “tragedies take place relentlessly while attention changes elsewhere”.
However, there does not seem to be a plan of Israel, the Gaza Humaninian Foundation or the international community to find a way to prevent the daily murder of the Palestinians, while they take life in their hands to seek a meager supply of food.
It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the cross -border attack led by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory.
