Israeli airstrikes killed a minimum of 28 Palestinians including 4 children within the Gaza Strip, while 24 others were fatally shot on their approach to an aid distribution site, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The youngsters and two women were amongst a minimum of 13 people killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the realm starting late Friday, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Fifteen others died in airstrikes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, in line with Nasser Hospital.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately reply to The Associated Press’ request for comment.
A minimum of 24 people were killed on their approach to a food distribution site near Rafah run by an Israeli-backed American organization, hospital officials and witnesses said. Israel’s military said it fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to forestall them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said no incident occurred near its sites.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he’s closing in on one other ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that will bring the discharge 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 have been no signs of a breakthrough. The militant group still holds some 50 hostages, with a minimum of 20 believed to stay alive.
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 after which restricted aid entry after ending the newest ceasefire in March.
The fatal shootings of 24 people occurred within the Rafah area of southern Gaza, a whole lot of meters from the food distribution site, Israel’s military said.
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A GHF spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity according to the group’s policies, said: “We checked with our prolonged team and this incident didn’t occur near our sites.”
Witnesses said they were shot at while on their approach to the location in search of food.
Abdullah al-Haddad said he was 200 meters from the help distribution site run by the GHF near the Shakoush area, west of Rafah, when an Israeli tank began firing at crowds of Palestinians.
“We were together, they usually shot us without delay,” he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital.
Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, one other witness, said Israel’s military had ordered them to proceed to the location when the shooting began.
Sumaya al-Sha’er’s 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed within the shooting, hospital officials said.
“He said to me, ‘Mom, you don’t have flour and today I’ll go and convey you flour, even when I die, I’ll go and get it,’” she said. “But he never got here 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 a whole lot 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 was violence in or around its sites up to now. 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 muse.
In a separate effort, the U.N. and aid groups say they’re struggling to distribute humanitarian aid due to Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.
The primary 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.
Israel’s military said that over the past 48 hours, troops struck roughly 250 targets in Gaza including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and extra Hamas sites.
Also on Saturday, the military announced strict restrictions along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast and called on fishermen, swimmers and divers to not go to sea.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people of their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and abducted 251.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 57,800 Palestinians, greater than half of them women and youngsters, in line with 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 essentially the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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