Israel, Gaza war: Three dead, dozens injured as IDF opens fire at food distribution centre

Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip opened fire as people headed toward an aid distribution site a kilometre away, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, health officials and a witness say.

The military said it fired warning shots at “suspects” who approached its forces.

The shooting occurred early on Monday at the same location where witnesses say Israeli forces fired a day earlier on crowds of people heading toward the aid hub in southern Gaza run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on Monday towards “several suspects who advanced toward the troops and posed a threat to them”, around a kilometre away from the aid distribution site at a time when it was closed. The army denied it was preventing people from reaching the site.

The Israeli military does not prevent civilians from reaching the distribution centres, the army emphasised, saying “Hamas is doing everything in its power to undermine food distribution in the Gaza Strip”.

Hamas says that “three starving civilians” were killed in Rafah and 35 people were injured.

The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the foundation’s new system for aid distribution.

They say it violates humanitarian principles and cannot meet mounting needs in the territory of roughly two million people, where experts have warned of famine because of an Israeli blockade that was only slightly eased last month.

In a separate incident Monday, an Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza killed 14 people, according to health officials.

The Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, saying five women and seven children were among those killed.

The military said it had struck “terror targets” across northern Gaza, without elaborating.

Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group is entrenched in populated areas.

A Red Cross field hospital received 50 wounded people, including two declared dead on arrival, after the shooting in southern Gaza, according to Hisham Mhanna, a Red Cross spokesperson.

He said most had gunfire and shrapnel wounds. Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis said it received a third body.

Moataz al-Feirani, who was being treated at Nasser Hospital, said he was shot in his leg as he walked with a crowd of thousands toward the aid distribution site. He said Israeli forces opened fire as they neared the Flag Roundabout at around 5:30am on Monday.

“We had had nothing, and they (military) were watching us,” he said, adding that drones were filming them.

On Sunday, at least 31 people were killed and over 170 wounded at the Flag Roundabout as large crowds headed toward the aid site, according to local health officials, aid groups and several eyewitnesses.

The witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowds at around 3am after ordering them to disperse and come back when the distribution site opens.

Israel’s military denied its forces fired at civilians near the aid site in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, a military zone off limits to independent media.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with procedure, said troops fired warning shots at several suspects advancing toward them overnight.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, said it had delivered aid on both days without incident.

On Sunday night, the foundation issued a statement, saying aid recipients must stay on the designated route to reach the hub Monday, and that Israeli troops are positioned along the way to ensure their security. “Leaving the road is extremely dangerous,” the statement said.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza” on Sunday.

“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.”

With DPA