Israeli bombardment killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens as crowds awaited aid trucks in Gaza City, Gaza health ministry officials said yesterday.
Palestinians were rushing to get aid supplies at the Kuwait Roundabout in northern Gaza City late on Wednesday evening when Israeli forces struck the area, residents and health officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million population and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents at aid distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.
On February 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.
Separately, in Al Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit an aid distribution centre yesterday.
In Deir Al Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments continued overnight on areas across the enclave including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli towns on October 7 that left 1,200 people killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s air, sea and ground assault on blockaded Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people and wounded over 71,500, according to Gaza health authorities.
The large number of deaths and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction and displacement of nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3m population are among actions that the World Court has said could amount to genocide. Israel has rejected claims of genocide.
The Gaza health ministry said yesterday Israeli military strikes across Gaza Strip had killed 69 Palestinians and wounded 110 others in the past 24 hours.
With the war now in its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access to the enclave.
Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza. It has blamed failures by aid agencies for delays and has accused Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon in its military offensive.
A ship carrying aid is approaching Gaza in a pilot trial of maritime delivery that is expected to be followed up by a US military effort to set up a dock on Gaza’s coast that will enable distribution of up to two million meals a day.
While welcoming aid ships, Palestinian and UN officials say maritime deliveries are not a substitute for sending aid through land crossings.
Egypt’s foreign minister called on Israel to open its land crossings to let more aid into the Gaza Strip and said Egypt was continuing efforts to agree a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and a hostage-prisoner exchange.
Humanitarian relief has so far mainly been channelled through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and the nearby, Israeli-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom, but aid officials say the quantity delivered is far less than needed.
Egypt’s military has recently taken part in airdrops of aid into Gaza as the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave has deteriorated.
Aid officials, however, say land transport is the only effective way of scaling up deliveries to meet needs quickly. Much of the aid provided by international donors has been stockpiled at Al Arish in the north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
“Israel controls six other crossings that it should open,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told a Press conference during a visit by his Spanish counterpart to Cairo.
“There is a long line of trucks waiting to enter but are subject to the procedures of vetting that must be complied to so that the trucks can enter safely, that the drivers are not targeted, that they are received on the other side,” Shoukry said. “We have the capacity to increase the number of trucks but the authorisation has to come,” he added.
Egypt, which fears the displacement of Palestinians crowded near its border with Gaza, has previously said Israel was blocking aid. Aid officials say their inability to distribute aid within Gaza because of Israel’s military campaign is a major impediment.
Egypt alongside Qatar has been trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
Attempts to strike a deal ahead of the start of the holy month of Ramadan this week fell through.
“We are working to reach a ceasefire, and release hostages and Palestinian prisoners,” Shoukry said, declining to give further details.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Spain had the backing of more than 90 countries for an international peace conference to deliver a two-state solution for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.