More than 150 people have been wounded, some critically, ITV News Vincent McAviney reports
At least 85 people have been killed by the Israeli military while waiting for aid at sites across Gaza on Sunday, making it the deadliest day for aid seekers in more than 21 months of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A fresh alarm was raised after Israel’s military ordered evacuations in parts of central Gaza — an area it has rarely entered with ground troops and where many international aid groups are based. Israel has not yet commented.
The largest toll was in northern Gaza, where at least 79 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access aid entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel, according to the Health Ministry and local hospitals.
The UN World Food Programme said 25 aid trucks entered for “starving communities” but were met by huge crowds.
A UN official, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds trying to take food from the convoy.
More than 150 people were wounded, some critically, hospitals said.
“Suddenly, tanks surrounded us, trapping us as gunfire and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,” said Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour and hadn’t eaten bread in 15 days.
Speaking amid the chaos of people carrying the dead and wounded, he added: “I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it’s better.”
Nafiz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people “randomly,” and he saw his cousin and others shot dead.
Israel’s military said soldiers fired at a crowd of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat and acknowledged some casualties.
However, it said Gaza officials’ casualty figures were much higher than its own initial findings and accused Hamas militants of causing the chaos.
Witnesses and health workers report that several hundred people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to reach the group’s aid distribution points.
Separately, seven Palestinians, including a five-year-old boy, were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis, the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital said.
The warnings come as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, despite widespread protests.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that the military will attack “with intensity” against militants. He called for residents, including those sheltering in tents, to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza’s southern shore that the Israeli military has designated a humanitarian zone.
In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.
The United Nations human rights office recently confirmed that at least 875 Palestinians have been killed whilst seeking food since May, with 674 of those in the vicinity of GHF distribution points.
On Saturday, at least 32 people were killed after Israeli troops opened fire towards a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid at a distribution hub, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
The deaths occurred in two incidents near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israel-backed group.
Separately, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
The Israeli military said it had struck some 90 targets throughout Gaza on Saturday, and that it had killed militants and targeted “terror infrastructure” in northern Gaza and Gaza City.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the violence near the aid sites, nor did the GHF.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians are facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
The 21-month war was triggered when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty hostages remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel’s military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which says that more than half of those killed have been women and children. Although the ministry is part of the Hamas government, the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians are facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Hamas triggered the 21-month war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel’s military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many militants are among the dead but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The Hostages Family Forum, which represents many of the families of Israeli hostages, condemned the evacuation announcement and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military explain what they hope to accomplish in the area of central Gaza, accusing Israel of operating without a clear war plan.
“Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all of the hostages,” the forum said. On Saturday night, during the weekly protest, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Tel Aviv, demonstrating for an end to the war.
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