Gaza: 3 Israeli troops killed in north as army massacres civilians waiting for food in Rafah

The Israeli army announced on Tuesday that three soldiers from the Givati Brigade were killed in the north of Gaza in fierce clashes with the military wing of Hamas, as the Israeli army killed at least 27 civilians waiting for aid in the south.

The Israeli army confirmed that the soldiers who had been killed were first sergeants, with one of them a squad member in the ninth Battalion and two of them military medics.

Reports in Israeli media stated that they were killed when a military vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by the Qassam Brigades. The attack also wounded two others, according to a preliminary toll.

Efforts to evacuate the wounded soldiers failed due to the intense fighting and ambush carried out by the Palestinian fighters, which also prevented a military helicopter from attempting to land at the site.

A statement from the Qassam Brigades on Monday evening said that its fighters were "engaging in fierce clashes with Israeli soldiers east of Jabalia camp, and that the clashes are still ongoing".

Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 424 Israeli army members have been killed, according to Israeli officials.

Israel also announced on Tuesday that it will no longer be sending a delegation to Qatar for ceasefire talks, after Hamas requested changes to the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff's proposal. 

However, Israeli media reported, citing an official, that "negotiations have not stopped, efforts of the mediators still continue".

Among Hamas' demands are a full ceasefire for up to seven years, a complete Israeli army withdrawal from areas occupied since March, and the cancellation of the GHF's activities.

Palestinians waiting for aid killed

The latest developments come as the Israeli army admitted and justified the killing of at least 27 Palestinian civilians waiting for aid at a designated aid distribution point in the al-Alam area in Rafah at dawn.

The military issued a statement saying the civilians "posed a threat," and were approximately 500 meters away from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site.

GHF went on to deny any role in the killings, stating that the delivery early on Tuesday went ahead "without incident".

"We don’t control the area outside of our distribution sites and surrounding vicinity, and we have no knowledge regarding the (Israeli army) activities beyond our perimeter, which is still an active war zone," the organisation said, before stating any questions should be directed to the Israeli army.

The statement has garnered widespread ire from activists and Palestinians who accuse the organisation of being complicit in the killings.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement slammed the attack, saying "the aid massacres in Rafah are an American-Zionist crime that reflects a systematic policy of persecuting our people and practising the most heinous forms of oppression and injustice against them".

A day earlier, the Israeli army killed at least 200 Palestinians across the Strip, with Palestinians gathered around an aid distribution centre in Rafah also among the dead and wounded.

A statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Health said: "Every martyr who arrived at the hospitals was found to have been shot only once, in the head or the chest".

Israeli war crimes

The repeated attacks on civilians also come as former US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said that he believes that Israel has "without a doubt…committed war crimes".

The comments come despite him repeatedly defending Israel’s actions during his time under the Biden administration.

He added that Israel is failing itself as a democracy by not holding soldiers accountable for their actions in the Strip, and confirmed that the US administration would often debate ending weapons sales to Israel.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation into the mass killings that have been reported since the start of GHF's operations.

"It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food," he said.

The repeated pattern of violence and shootings around the GHF site has received mounting criticism globally.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 61,700 Palestinians since October 2023 and has been labelled a genocide by leading international rights groups, including Amnesty International.