At least six Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in the second Israeli attack this week on a crowd of Gazans awaiting the arrival of aid trucks in Gaza City, Hamas government health authorities said Thursday.
According to the Ministry of Health and the testimony of residents, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who were rushing to obtain humanitarian aid supplies at the Kuwait roundabout, in the north of this town and one of the destinations established for the convoys that arrive to this territory, heavily affected by fighting and famine. The Israeli army has not commented on the event.
Another similar attack occurred on Tuesday in the same place, in what health authorities defined even then as a “daily practice” of the Israeli army. Then nine people died and another 20 were injured.
On February 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians while they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel admitted it fired on a group of Palestinians, but blamed the deaths on crowds surrounding aid trucks, saying the victims had been trampled or run over.
Meanwhile, further south, in Deir Al Balah, an Israeli missile hit a house and killed nine people on Thursday, according to Palestinian doctors. According to testimonies, Israeli air and ground bombardments continued overnight in areas of the enclave, including Rafah, in the south, where more than a million displaced people are taking refuge.
The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others, according to Israeli counts. Israel then launched an air, sea and land attack that has killed 31,341 people and injured another 73,134, according to the latest count from the Gaza Health Ministry. In the last 24 hours, Israel has killed 69 people and injured 110.
With the war now in its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – a quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow greater access to enclave.
Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries to Gaza. He has blamed the delays on failures by aid agencies and accused Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon in its military offensive. An accusation that the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, endorsed in his appearance on Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council.
The Open Arms and World Central Kitchen ship loaded with food is currently approaching Gaza in a pilot test of a maritime corridor, which is expected to be followed by a US military effort to establish a dock on the strip’s coast that will allow the distribution of up to two million meals a day. While they welcome aid ships, Palestinian and U.N. officials say maritime deliveries are no substitute for sending aid through land crossings. And they demand that Israel facilitate access for humanitarian convoys.
