At least 11 people killed in Israeli fire at crowds of Palestinians seeking aid in central Gaza, medics say.
At least 47 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza, including 11 people who were waiting for aid trucks, Palestinian health officials say.
The latest incidence of the near daily killings of Palestinian aid seekers in recent weeks took place early on Wednesday on Salah Al-Din Street near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera. More than 100 others were injured in the attack, they said.
In other deadly Israeli strikes across Gaza, eight people were killed, and others injured, in an air strike on a home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood south of Gaza City, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Eight more people were killed, and others injured, in Israeli strikes on tents of displaced people in al-Mawasi camp in Gaza’s south, medical sources told Al Jazeera. The victims included a woman and two children, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Another strike took place on the Maghazi camp in central Gaza, news agencies reported, citing medics. Wafa reported that 10 people, including a husband, wife and children from a single family, were killed in the strike.
The Israeli military, when asked for comment, told the Reuters news agency that it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food aid.
Regarding the other reported strikes, it claimed it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” and taking “feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm”, Reuters reported.
Killings of aid seekers mount
Since Israel slightly eased its total blockade on Gaza in late May, allowing limited amounts of aid to be distributed by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, killings of aid seekers have become a regular occurrence amid the chaotic scenes as desperate Palestinians clamour for food.
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The UN and major humanitarian groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops killed at least 70 Palestinians and wounded hundreds as they sought aid in Gaza on the deadliest day of violence at the sites so far.
Gaza’s health ministry said Tuesday that 397 Palestinian aid seekers had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since distribution resumed in late May.
Urgent fuel warning
Th attacks come as Gaza’s health ministry said that the death toll had risen to 55,637, with 129,880 wounded since the conflict erupted in October 2023.
The ministry also issued a warning of serious fuel shortages, saying that the territory’s few operational hospitals had only enough fuel to last three days.
The ministry said that Israeli forces were preventing international aid groups and UN organisations from accessing fuel storage sites for hospitals under the pretext that they were in so-called “red zones”, which threatened to shut down hospitals that rely on generators for power.