Palestinians in aid queue targeted, as Israel kills dozens across Gaza

Israeli forces killed at least 23 Palestinians in the early hours of Thursday, including 16 people who were queuing up to receive humanitarian aid, according to reports.

Israeli shelled locations across Gaza, including the Zeitoun neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, as well as Jabalia in the north.

The Palestinian civil defence crews also recovered the bodies of several Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike while waiting for humanitarian aid on al-Bahr Street in northern Gaza. Local media reported that they were found five days after they were killed, but their bodies could only now be retrieved due to continuous shelling.

Israeli military vehicles and drones further targeted Palestinians gathered around the Wadi Gaza Bridge, north of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

Among the civilians killed in the latest Israeli attacks was Ahmed al-Mufti, the captain of the Palestinian national volleyball team and a player for the Jabalia Youth Club.

Civilians waiting for aid 

At least 16 of those killed early on Thursday were civilians waiting for aid at the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza. Israel’s defence ministry confirmed that Israeli drones and military vehicles stationed in the area opened fire on a group gathered near Salah al-Din Street.

Medical sources at the scene told reporters that over 100 civilians were wounded in the attack.

The Palestinian ministry of health said on Wednesday that at least 144 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours, while 560 others have been wounded across Gaza.

It comes just after Israeli forces struck the Shuhada Bani Suhaila Secondary School in southern Gaza with at least three missiles.

On Wednesday, an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Gaza, while another was seriously injured.

Meanwhile, sources within Palestinian armed groups told local media that there has not been any progress in a ceasefire or prisoner exchange deal or negotiations with Israel.

It comes after the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported "significant progress" in ongoing mediation efforts between the two sides.

UN chief Philippe Lazzarini raised the alarm over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying: "Palestinian lives have been so devalued. It is now the routine to shoot and kill desperate and starving people while they try to collect little food from a company made of mercenaries".

"Inviting starving people to their death is a war crime. Those responsible of this system must be held accountable. This is a disgrace and a stain on our collective consciousness," he added.

Rights group Amnesty International warned that the world should not divert its attention away from Gaza, as Israel pounds Iran.

The group’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said: "The world must not allow Israel to use this military escalation to divert attention away from its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, its illegal occupation of the whole Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its system of apartheid against Palestinians."

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 61,700 Palestinians since 7 October 2023. The war has levelled entire neighbourhoods, plunged Gaza into a deep humanitarian crisis that has been determined to be a genocide by leading rights groups.