Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 Palestinians near a US-backed aid distribution site on Sunday, with both the group in charge of the site and the military denying any such incident took place.
Israel has faced growing condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned the entire population faces the risk of famine after no aid was allowed to enter for more than two months. Israel recently eased its blockade and introduced a revamped aid mechanism in cooperation with a newly formed US-backed organization, bypassing the longstanding UN-led system.
The organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), says it has distributed millions of meals since operations began last week, but the rollout has been marked by chaotic scenes at the limited number of distribution centers.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “31 people were killed and more than 176 injured… after Israeli gunfire targeted thousands of civilians near the American aid center in Rafah”, in southern Gaza.