Dozens killed in Gaza while waiting for aid trucks
Gaza’s Health Ministry reports hundreds were also wounded in the latest incident involving aid distribution
At least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for UN and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital.
Palestinian witnesses told Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an air strike on a nearby home before opening fire towards the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said soldiers had spotted a gathering near an aid truck that was stuck in Khan Younis, near where Israeli forces were operating.
“There are reports of several casualties from IDF gunfire as the crowd approached. The details are being investigated,” it said, using an acronym for the Israeli Defence Forces.
The shooting did not appear to be related to a new Israeli- and US-supported aid delivery network that rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.
Yousef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. “It was a massacre,” he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area.