At Least 27 Killed After Israeli Soldiers Open Fire Near Gaza Aid Site
At Least 27 Killed After Israeli Soldiers Open Fire Near Gaza Aid Site
It was the second such shooting in three days near a food distribution center, which is part of a contentious new Israeli and American-backed initiative.
Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday morning near crowds of Palestinians walking toward a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. The Red Cross and Gaza health ministry said at least 27 people had been killed.
It was the second such large-scale shooting by Israeli forces in three days near the same aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, where thousands of desperate and hungry Palestinians are coming early each day in hopes of securing a food handout. Israeli soldiers opened fire on Sunday near an approach to the same food distribution site, and Palestinian officials said they killed at least 23 people.
In the latest violence on Tuesday, the Israeli military said the troops fired near “a few” people who had strayed from the designated route to the site and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement called them “suspects” and said they had “posed a threat” to soldiers. But a military spokeswoman declined to explain the nature of the perceived threat.
Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, a senior administrator at Nasser Hospital, a medical center in Khan Younis a few miles from the site of the shootings, said in a phone interview that many of the victims were children aged 10 to 13 with gunshot wounds to the head or chest.
He added that the hospital’s ability to treat the wounded had been hindered by critical equipment shortages [sic]
The shootings, which the military said occurred roughly about 500 yards from the food distribution site, were the latest chaos surrounding a contentious new Israeli-backed system for food distribution sites in Gaza, where American private contractors oversee the handout of cardboard boxes of aid.
The Israeli-American initiative has only announced four aid distribution points — compared with 400 under the previous U.N.-coordinated aid distribution system. And on most days, most of the four sites have not been operational.
Israel says the new aid system is needed to prevent Hamas from stealing and stockpiling food, as well as from financing its war effort by selling food to civilians at elevated prices. U.N. officials have argued there is no evidence that international aid was diverted by Hamas.
Some Israelis said that Hamas was trying to undermine the new system by instigating chaos and encouraging people to riot.