GAZA CITY:
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 33 people were killed by Israeli fire in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, including 11 who were seeking aid.
The war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel has ravaged the Gaza Strip and resulted in severe shortages of food, fuel and clean water.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded “after the occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells… at thousands of citizens” who had gathered to queue for food in central Gaza.
The military told AFP that its forces operating in central Gaza identified “a group of suspicious individuals” approaching “in a manner that posed a potential threat to the forces.”
It said its troops then fired “warning shots”, but that it was “unaware of injuries”.
In early March, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, amid a deadlock in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.
Since then, chaotic scenes and a string of deadly shootings have occurred near areas where Palestinians have gathered in hopes of receiving aid.
The civil defence agency said another 19 people were killed in three Israeli strikes on Wednesday, which it said targeted houses and a tent for displaced people.
The Israeli military told AFP regarding one of those attacks that its troops were “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.
Three more people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a neighbourhood northeast of Gaza City on Wednesday, Bassal said.
Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.
The civil defence agency reported that at least 53 people were killed on Tuesday, as they gathered near an aid centre in the southern city of Khan Yunis hoping to receive flour.
