Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces on Tuesday killed more than 50 aid seekers in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the latest deadly incident near an aid site in the Palestinian territory.
The Gaza Strip has been ravaged by more than 20 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, with the situation continuing to deteriorate on the ground amid shortages of food, fuel and clean water.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at least 53 people were killed and some 200 wounded as thousands of Palestinians gathered to receive flour at a World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid centre in the morning.
“Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded,” he said.
The Israeli army said it was “aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from (Israeli military) fire following the crowd’s approach” in Khan Yunis, and that the details of the incident were “under review”.
It said that “a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Yunis, and in proximity to (Israeli) troops operating in the area.”
Bassal said that four additional people were killed by Israeli fire Tuesday near the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
