ISRAELI tanks opened fire into a crowd desperate to get food from aid trucks in Gaza, with the IDF launching a probe.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots in the direction of a crowd of thousands of people to rid what it called “an immediate threat”.
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The Hamas-run health ministry claims at least 85 civilians were killed while trying to reach food today, which would make it the deadliest day for aid-seekers in the entire war.
But the IDF disputes the death toll, saying the “reported number of casualties does not align with the existing information”.
It also accused Hamas militants of creating chaos.
There was new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza.
The largest death toll was in devastated northern Gaza, where living conditions are especially harrowing.
At least 79 Palestinians were tragically killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, Zaher al-Waheidi, the head of the Health Ministry’s records department, said.
The UN World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for starving people when it encountered massive crowds.
An anonymous UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to take food from the convoy.
Israel’s military said soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties.
More than 150 people were wounded, some in critical condition, hospitals said.
Al-Waheidi said Israeli gunfire killed another six Palestinians in the Shakoush area, hundreds of meters north of a hub of the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
After the tragic reports emerged, the US- and Israel-backed GHF stressed the shooting occurred near a UN aid convoy – not near any of their distribution hubs.
Witnesses and health workers say several hundred people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group’s aid distribution sites.
The horrific incident came as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly maintained that expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas into negotiations.
Earlier this month, Israel’s military said it controlled more than 65 per cent of Gaza.
Gaza’s population of more than two million Palestinians are currently facing a devastating humanitarian crisis and relying predominantly on the limited aid allowed into the territory.
Ambulances in front of three major hospitals in Gaza sounded their alarms simultaneously Sunday in an urgent appeal as hunger grows.
The Health Ministry posted pictures on social media of doctors holding signs about malnourished children and the lack of medication.
The GHF uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Gaza.
The UN among other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, claiming that Israel is weaponising food and that it will lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They added that it undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.
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