Over 30 Palestinians killed trying to reach US group's food distribution sites, Gaza authorities say

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops opened fire Saturday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.

The GHF launched operations in late May with backing from the U.S. and Israel. The two governments are seeking to replace the traditional U.N.-led aid distribution system in Gaza, saying that Hamas militants siphon off supplies. The U.N. denies the allegation.

While the GHF says it has distributed millions of meals to hungry Palestinians, local health officials and witnesses say that hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli army fire as they try to reach the distribution hubs.

The army, which is not at the sites but secures them from a distance, says it only fires warning shots if crowds get too close to its forces.

The GHF, which employs private armed guards, says there have been no deadly shootings at its sites, though this week, 20 people were killed at one of its locations, most of them in a stampede. The group accused Hamas agitators of causing a panic, but gave no evidence to back the claim.

In a statement, the GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites on Saturday, and that the reported Israeli shootings took place hours before they opened. “We have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,” it said.

The Israeli military said it had fired “warning shots” near Rafah after a group of suspects approached troops and ignored calls to keep their distance. It said it was investigating reports of casualties, but noted the incident occurred overnight when the distribution site was closed.

In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited a Christian Palestinian village that was recently attacked by Israeli settlers and harshly criticized the violence.

‘Indiscriminate fire’

Most of Saturday’s deaths occurred as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around three kilometers (2 miles) away from a GHF aid distribution center east of the city of Khan Younis.

Mahmoud Mokeimar, an eyewitness, said he was walking with masses of people — mostly young men — toward the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire toward the marching people.

“It was a massacre … the occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately,” he said. He said he managed to flee but saw at least three motionless bodies lying on the ground, and many other wounded fleeing.

Akram Aker, another witness, said troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones. He said the shooting happened between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

“They encircled us and started firing directly at us,” he said. He said he saw many casualties lying on the ground.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along with dozens wounded.

Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of meters (yards) north of another GHF hub in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the hospital said. The toll was also confirmed by the health ministry.

Dr. Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser's nursing department, said it received 70 wounded people. He told The Associated Press that most of the casualties were shot in their heads and chests.

“The situation is difficult and tragic,” he said, adding that the facility lacks badly needed medical supplies to treat the daily flow of casualties.

Meanwhile, Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry's ambulance and emergency service in northern Gaza, said two people were killed in Gaza City when an airstrike hit a tent in a camp sheltering displaced families. There were no further details on the target of the strike.

In central Gaza, the Awda-Nusseirat Hospital said nine people were killed in another airstrike. The hospital and Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Omar Aqel, a local police official, was killed. Two children, including an infant, and five women — all relatives of Aqel — were also among the dead.

The Israeli army had no comment on specific strikes but said it had struck some 90 targets throughout Gaza over the past day and that it had killed militants and targeted “terror infrastructure” in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

Humanitarian crisis

Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and the territory is teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.

Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the centers and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself.

In videos obtained recently by the AP from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.

Hamas triggered the ongoing 21-month war in Gaza when it stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.

An Israeli military offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million people and caused widespread destruction.

The ministry does not say how many militants are among the dead, though it says over half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but is seen by the U.N. and other international organizations as the most reliable source of data on war casualties.

Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar in recent weeks. But international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs in the talks.

West Bank church attack

In the occupied West Bank, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited a Palestinian Christian village where residents say extremist Israeli settlers set fire to the Church of St. George on July 9.

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian who is normally strongly supportive of Israel, harshly condemned the attack.

“To commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship — it's an act of terror and it's a crime,” he said.

The West Bank has experienced a surge in settler violence since the war in Gaza broke out. Palestinians say Israeli security forces have done little to stop the violence, and few settlers have been punished.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.