Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said, adding that dozens of others were wounded.
Medics said residents reported that Israeli tanks fired shells against crowds of desperate Palestinians awaiting aid trucks along the main eastern road in Khan Younis. Medics expect the number of fatalities to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
A ministry statement added that the Nasser hospital, where the casualties were rushed to, had been overwhelmed by the number of deaths and injuries.
One witness 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.
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Another said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. “I survived by a miracle,” he said.
Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds trying to reach food distribution points run by a separate US and Israeli-backed aid group since the centres opened last month.
Local health officials say scores have been killed and hundreds wounded.
In those instances, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots at people it said had approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
Israel says the new system is designed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid to fund its militant activities.
UN agencies and major aid groups deny there is any major diversion of aid and have rejected the new system, saying it cannot meet the mounting needs in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid. Experts have warned of widespread famine in Gaza.
The UN-run network has delivered aid across Gaza throughout the 20-month Israel-Hamas war but has faced major obstacles since Israel loosened a total blockade it had imposed from early March until mid-May.
UN officials say Israeli military restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it difficult to deliver the aid that Israel has allowed in.
Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group’s October 7th, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage.
The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. – Agencies
