At least seventeen Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire as they were on their way to a US and Israeli-backed aid distribution site in central Gaza on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing local health officials.
The massacre took place near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site near the Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip.
The Israeli military disputed the numbers but didn’t deny that its forces fired on the crowd of thousands of displaced Palestinians. The IDF claimed that it fired “warning shots” at “suspects who were advancing in the area of Wadi Gaza and posed a threat to the troops.” It did not allege the “suspects” were armed.
Medics told Reuters that the dead and wounded were brought to two hospitals: the al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and the al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.
Palestinians have been making the trek to the aid sites early in the morning because supplies often run out quickly. People continue to travel to the sites despite the risk of being shot and killed by IDF troops, demonstrating their desperate need for food.
“I went there at 2 am, hoping to get some food. On my way there, I saw people returning empty-handed, they said aid packages had run out in five minutes. This is insane and isn’t enough,” Mohammad Abu Amr, a 40-year-old father in Gaza, told Reuters.
“Dozens of thousands arrive from the central areas and from the northern areas too, some of them walked for over 20 km (12 miles), only to come back home with disappointment,” he added.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, a total of 36 Palestinian aid seekers were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Tuesday morning. “The death toll from aid-related deaths since this morning has reached 36, along with more than 208 injuries,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
The ministry said a total of 52 Palestinians were killed and 308 were wounded over the previous 24-hour period as Israeli airstrikes and shelling also continued to hit targets across the Strip.
A day earlier, at least 14 Palestinians were killed by gunfire near a GHF site in the southern city of Rafah. According to witnesses, gunfire came from both Israeli troops and members of an Israeli-backed gang that has members who have ties to ISIS.