Israeli tank shelling kills 47 Palestinians waiting to receive aid in Khan Younis

Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 47 Palestinians and wounded dozens more as they waited to receive aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in the latest massacre involving aid distribution.

Citing residents, medics said Israeli tanks fired shells against crowds of desperate Palestinians awaiting aid trucks along the main eastern road in Khan Younis, expecting the number of fatalities to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.

"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," said civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal.

A health ministry statement said that the Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were rushed to, had been overwhelmed by the number of deaths and injuries.

Gory scenes of bodies littering the streets and damaged vehicles have been shared online.

Hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire since last month, when a new US and Israeli-backed aid mechanism that bypasses the UN began operating.

It has been slammed by rights and aid groups as a death trap for Palestinians.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor accused Israel on Monday of turning aid distribution points in the Gaza Strip into "mass killing arenas," adopting a model that lures Palestinian civilians into "specific and exposed" areas and then exposes them to "killing, injury, arrest, and cruel and degrading treatment."

Gaza’s health ministry confirms 55,432 people have been killed in the war since October 2023. Thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the rubble.

A lack of food has led to dozens of famine deaths as hospitals face severe shortages in essential medical supplies due to Israel’s blockade.

The director general of Gaza’s health ministry Dr. Mounir al-Bursh says the territory’s health system was collapsing.

According to Quds News, al-Bursh said machines were shutting down and patients were dying before they were able to receive aid, and medical teams were exhausted and underequipped.

Israel, meanwhile, presses ahead with its widescale offensive that started in mid-May.

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that a soldier in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade was killed in combat in southern Gaza. He hailed from the Nokdim settlement in the occupied West Bank.

A combat officer and three other soldiers were "seriously injured" in the same incident, the army added.