On Wednesday, more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 400 others injured while waiting for food near a level crossing in the north of Gaza, said a hospital, while the American special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel.
Images have shown victims of the incident near the Zikim crossing during trolleys at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The Civil Defense Agency led by Gaza said that Israeli forces said the Israeli forces have shot the crowd gathered around aid trucks. The Israeli army said the troops had drawn “warning shots” but that it was “aware of any victim”.
Witkoff is expected to meet Israeli officials who plan to punish Hamas after the ceasefire and the hostage of hostage liberation talks are in a standstill last week.
He would also visit aid distribution sites managed by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by the United States, supported by the United States, in the midst of increasing international outrage in the disastrous humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.
The Ministry of Health managed by Gaza, Gaza reported on Wednesday seven other deaths related to malnutrition, bringing the total since the start of the war to 154.
He came a day after the global global food security experts supported by the UN warned that the “worst scenario of famine” currently took place “among the 2.1 million inhabitants.
The United Nations agencies also declared that there was a starvation of artificial mass in Gaza and blamed Israel, which controls the entry of all the supplies to Gaza. But Israel insisted that there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and that there is “no famine”.
Despite this, four days ago, he implemented measures which, according to him, aim to help the UN and its partners to collect the help of crossings and to distribute it in Gaza, including daily “tactical breaks” in military operations in three areas and the creation of what it calls “designated humanitarian corridors”.
The UN humanitarian office said that tactical breaks did not allow the continuous flow of supplies necessary to meet the immense needs of the population, and that the desperate hungry crowds continue to unload the truck supplies when they cross the Israeli passages.
The director of the Al-Shifa hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told the BBC on Thursday morning that he had received the bodies of 54 people killed in the incident in the Zikim region, as well as 412 people injured.
On Wednesday evening, the Civil Defense Agency led by Hamas told the AFP news agency that at least 30 people had been killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd while waiting for aid there.
The Palestinian Red Crescent, on the other hand, reported that his Al-Saraya field hospital and the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City had received a total of six dead and 274 injured from the same incident.
The Israeli Defense Forces (FRI) said in a statement that “dozens of gasans had been identified from gathering around aid trucks in the north of Gaza, and near the FDI troops operating in the region”.
“The troops have shot warning in the region, not directed to the rally, in response to the threat to them,” he added.
“According to an initial survey, the FDI is not aware of any victim following the TDS fire. The details of the incident are still being examined.”
International journalists are blocked by Israel to enter independently from Gaza, so it is difficult to verify what happened.
However, a man interviewed by a local independent journalist working for the BBC said that he knew a killed teenager.
“In the current situation, there is no food or water. People will seek food from the Zikim region, where they are targeted. He went to bring flour but returned to the bag of flour,” he said.
“What was his fault? They pulled him in the middle of his head. He did not carry a rock, a weapon, nor to do anything wrong. His only fault was to be Palestinian and live in Gaza.”
Abu Taha al-Kafarneh, a father of two unemployed children who was his family’s main supporter support, was also among the dead, another man told the BBC.
“He went to get a bag of flour to secure his food for the day … He didn’t want to exchange it, sell it or enjoy it like many looting merchants,” he said.
He added: “They (Israel) claim that they have let in food, but rather increase the number of people killed and martyred as much as they can. The morgue is full.”
Wednesday morning, hospital sources in southern Gaza told the BBC that six people had been killed near a help distribution center led by the GHF in the Rafah region.
The FDI told the BBC that a “rally of suspects”, he said that threatening his troops had been invited to move away, and thereafter the army fired “shots” at a distance of “hundreds of meters” from the site.
The army also said that “an initial examination suggests that the number of victims reported does not align with the information held by the FDI”.
The GHF said that no murder had taken place on or near its sites on Wednesday.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, more than 1,050 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army while trying to obtain food aid since the start of the GHF at the end of May.
He said last week that at least 766 of them were killed near one of the four GHF distribution centers, which are operated by American private security entrepreneurs and are located inside Israeli military areas.
288 other people were killed near the UN and other help convoys, he added.
Israel accused Hamas of prompting chaos near help sites. He says that his troops only pulled warning shots and that they do not intentionally draw civilians.
The GHF said the UN used “false” figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The organization said it has given more than 98 million meals in the past two months and that it is ready to work with the UN to provide help.
However, the UN refused to cooperate with the GHF system, claiming that it is not sure and violates the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.
The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 60,138 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory.
