Israeli forces kill dozens in Gaza, many at aid site
Dozens were gunned down by Israeli troops trying to get food from a site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Saturday, medics said.
2 min read
Israeli troops have killed Palestinian aid seekers near GHF facilities on a near daily basis since the organisation started operating in late May. [Getty]
Gaza's civil defence agency reported 79 people killed in Israeli military attacks in the Palestinian territory Saturday, more than half of whom it said were killed while waiting for aid.
"Forty-one people were martyred due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, 23 of whom were waiting for aid," Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official from the agency, told AFP.
The Israeli military did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
Israeli restrictions on media in Gaza and the difficulties of access on the ground mean AFP is unable to independently verify the casualty tolls provided by the civil defence agency.
Central Gaza's Al-Awda hospital received eight bodies and 125 wounded after Israeli drone strikes targeted people gathering near an aid distribution centre near the Netzarim corridor, Mughayyir said.
Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital received 11 bodies after an attack on people seeking aid on Saturday, he added, while four others were taken to the Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser hospital in the south.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points since the US- and Israel-backed organisation began operating in late May, according to the civil defence agency.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, the GHF began operating on 26 May after Israel cut off supplies to Gaza for more than two months, sparking international condemnation and warnings of imminent famine.
Mughayyir said that 18 people were killed in the north and south of the territory during various attacks by the Israeli army, including seven in Gaza City.
The Gaza Strip has been ravaged by more than 20 months of war, with the situation continuing to deteriorate on the ground.
Nasser Hospital, one of the last partly functioning health facilities, has been targeted by Israeli strikes in recent days, according to medical sources who spoke to AFP.
AFP journalists on the ground reported that internet and fixed-line communications were down in Gaza for the third consecutive day due to Israeli attacks.
The Palestinian Authority's telecommunications ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces targeted a fibre optic cable, triggering the outage.
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