79 Gazans killed waiting for food after Israeli troops open fire, medics say
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79 Gazans killed waiting for food after Israeli troops open fire, medics say
The U.N. World Food Program says its 25-truck convoy was mobbed shortly after it passed through the Zikim border crossing. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had identified “a gathering of thousands of Gazans” and fired “warning shots” to “remove an immediate threat” Israel’s four-month blockade has left Gazans so bereft of basics like fuel that some of the bodies of victims Sunday were piled onto donkey carts, rather than ambulances. The Health Ministry said 18 people, including eight children, had died of a lack of food in 24 hours, while 330 people were treated for injuries in al-Shifa Hospital alone, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry says. The military signaled it was expanding operations deeper into Gaza, warning people to evacuate the central city of Deir al-Balah and to move south to Mawasi, where many of the enclave’s displaced civilians are sheltering in Tent City.
Israel’s four-month blockade has left Gazans so bereft of basics like fuel that some of the bodies of victims Sunday were piled onto donkey carts, rather than ambulances, to reach al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 79 people were killed.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had identified “a gathering of thousands of Gazans” and fired “warning shots” to “remove an immediate threat” to troops. The military did not respond to further questions about the nature of the threat. It has issued similar statements after mass killings of aid seekers gathered near distribution sites run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation over the past two months.
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“The IDF is aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details of the incident are still being examined,” the army said. It added that the Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll did not “align” with its own information, but provided no alternative figures.
Israel’s blockade and military campaign have reduced Gaza’s 2 million-strong population to near starvation. On Sunday, the military signaled it was expanding operations deeper into Gaza, warning people to evacuate the central city of Deir al-Balah and to move south to Mawasi, where many of the enclave’s displaced civilians are sheltering in tents.
World Central Kitchen, a U.S.-based nonprofit, also said Sunday that its teams had run out of ingredients to cook warm meals. The Health Ministry said 18 people, including eight children, had died of a lack of food in 24 hours.
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“The Israeli Authorities are starving civilians in #Gaza,” the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post Sunday on X. “Among them are 1 million children.”
On the Al Jazeera news network, the voice of correspondent Anas al-Sharif cracked as he pointed viewers to an elderly woman who appeared to have fainted from exhaustion as the cameras rolled. “People are falling down now in the streets of Gaza from extreme hunger,” he said.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense force, announced he was going on hunger strike, saying in a video statement that what is happening in the enclave “is not merely a crisis.”
“It is a documented crime being committed against an entire people,” he said, addressing world leaders. “You hold the power to stop this crime. History will not forgive those who watch in silence or those who remain complicit.”
Several witnesses to the shootings near Zikim said they saw Israeli tanks firing on the crowd as people ran toward the aid trucks. Reached by phone in al-Shifa Hospital, Rebhi al-Masri, 30, said his brother-in-law was badly wounded from being shot in the neck and chest. Another relative was shot in the pelvis, and his brother had gone missing in the chaos. “I have no idea where he is,” he said. “Everybody started running.”
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Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said 330 people were treated for injuries in al-Shifa Hospital alone. Corridors had filled with the wounded and the emergency room was out of beds, he said.
Wahidi said another 13 people were shot near an aid distribution center in Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday. When asked about the incident, the Israeli military said troops had “identified suspects” and fired “warning shots” to prevent them from approaching.
From al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, wounded 24-year-old Youssef Wady described Sunday night how casualties were still arriving. “I hope the people of all nations hear my voice,” he said. “Feel for us. Enough is enough. … Some people have spent months without a single loaf of bread.”
As of July 13, the United Nations had recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food in recent months, 674 of whom were killed around Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites. More than 200 others were killed while seeking food “on the routes of aid convoys or near aid convoys” run by the United Nations or its humanitarian partners, Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesman, told reporters in Geneva.
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Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign minister said Sunday that he had issued instructions that the residence visa not be renewed for a top U.N. official in Gaza who had criticized the military’s shooting of Palestinian aid seekers. Jonathan Whittall, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, had addressed the spiraling bloodshed in a news conference last month. “What we are seeing is carnage,” he said. “It’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive.”
In a post on X, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar portrayed Whittall’s description of the killings as “hostile conduct” against Israel.
“Whoever spreads lies about Israel — Israel will not work with him,” he wrote.
Israeli gunfire blamed for 85 fatalities in deadliest day yet for Palestinians seeking aid
Israel’s military issues evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza. The largest death toll was in devastated northern Gaza, where living conditions are especially dire. At least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel. The United Nations World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for “starving communities” when it encountered massive crowds. “I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it’s better,” says one man. “Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down,” says Ehab Al-Zei, who hadn’t eaten bread in 15 days. “We were trapped for around two hours,” said one man, who had been waiting for flour and said he hadn’t eat bread in 10 days. ‘I was shot in the head by a machine gun,’ says a man who was hit in the leg by a tank shell in the northern city of Deir al-Balah, a relative haven.
There was new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organizations trying to distribute aid are located. One group said several offices were told to evacuate immediately. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
The largest death toll was in devastated northern Gaza, where living conditions are especially dire. At least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry’s records department, told The Associated Press. The United Nations World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for “starving communities” when it encountered massive crowds.
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment on the incident to the media, said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the UN and shared with the AP showed Palestinian men running as automatic gunfire was heard.
“Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,” said Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour and said he hadn’t eaten bread in 15 days. He spoke over the din of people carrying the dead and wounded. “I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it’s better.”
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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 shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It accused Hamas militants of creating chaos.
More than 150 people were wounded, some in critical condition, hospitals said.
Al-Waheidi said Israeli gunfire killed another six Palestinians in the Shakoush area, hundreds of metres north of a hub of the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.- and Israel-backed group, in the southern city of Rafah.
The GHF said it was not aware of any incident near its site. Witnesses and health workers say several hundred people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group’s aid distribution sites.
Separately, seven Palestinians were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis in the south, including a five-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital, which received the casualties.
Evacuation orders cut road across Gaza
The new evacuation orders cut access between the central city of Deir al-Balah and Rafah and Khan Younis in the narrow territory. The military also reiterated evacuation orders for northern Gaza.
Palestinians were startled to see the orders for parts of Deir al-Balah, a relative haven. “All of Rafah is under evacuation, and now you have decided that half of Deir al-Balah is under evacuation. Where will we move to?” asked resident Hassan Abu Azab, as others piled everything from bedding to live ducks onto carts and other vehicles. Smoke rose in the distance, with blasts and the sound of a siren.
The United Nations was in contact with Israeli authorities to clarify whether its facilities in the southwestern part of Deir al-Balah are included in the order, according to a different UN official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. The official said that in previous instances, UN facilities were spared from such orders.
People carry aid supplies in Beit Lahia, a city in northern Gaza, on Sunday. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British charity, said several humanitarian organizations’ offices and guesthouses had been “ordered to evacuate immediately” and that nine clinics, including the one operated by MAP, had been forced to shut down. It was not immediately clear what other groups were affected.
Military spokepserson Avichay Adraee called for people to head to Al-Mawasi, a desolate tent camp with little infrastructure on Gaza’s southern coast that Israel’s military has designated a humanitarian zone.
The announcement came as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas in negotiations.
Earlier this month, Israel’s military said it controlled more than 65 per cent of Gaza.
Palestinian death toll nears 59,000
Gaza’s population of more than two million Palestinians is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Many people have been displaced multiple times.
Ambulances in front of three major hospitals in Gaza sounded their alarms simultaneously on Sunday in an urgent appeal as hunger grows. The Health Ministry posted pictures on social media of doctors holding signs about malnourished children and the lack of medication.
The conflict began after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Alaa Al-Najjar mourns her three-month-old baby, Yehia, who according to medics died due to malnutrition amid a hunger crisis, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Sunday. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says the majority of the dead were women and children.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a grassroots organization that represents many families of hostages, condemned the new evacuation order and demanded that Netanyahu and Israel’s military explain what they hope to accomplish in central Gaza.
“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 a weekly protest, tens of thousands marched in Tel Aviv to the branch of the U.S. Embassy, demanding an end to the war.
More than 80 killed trying to reach aid in Gaza, health ministry says
More than 80 people have been killed trying to get aid into Gaza, officials say. The death toll is expected to rise as more people are reported missing. The UN says it is working with the Israeli government to find out what is happening in the area. The U.S. State Department said it was working with Israel on a plan to get the aid into the Gaza Strip by the end of the week, but did not give a date for the start of a new operation. The United Nations said it had received reports of people missing in action, but had not been able to reach them. The Israeli military said the death toll could rise as it continues to investigate the cause of the violence in the north of the city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, which has been hit by a series of rocket attacks in recent days. The US State Department has said it is trying to work with Israel to find a solution to the crisis, but that the situation in the region is still very much in its early stages.
At least 85 people have been killed while trying to reach aid at locations across Gaza, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory has said.
The development represents the deadliest day yet for people seeking aid in more than 21 months of war.
And there was new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organisations attempting to distribute aid are located.
One aid group said several groups’ offices were told to evacuate immediately.
Palestinians carried sacks of humanitarian aid unloaded from trucks headed to Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
The largest toll was in northern Gaza, where at least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, according to the health ministry and local hospitals.
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The UN World Food Programme said 25 trucks with aid had entered for “starving communities” when it encountered massive crowds that came under gunfire.
A UN official said Israeli forces opened fire towards the crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the UN and shared with the Associated Press showed Palestinian men running as the sound of automatic gunfire could be heard.
“Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,” Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour, said.
“I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it’s better.”
Palestinians reacted after carrying the bodies of those killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel on Sunday (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
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 had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found.
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The military said it was attempting to facilitate the entry of aid, and accused Hamas militants of creating chaos and endangering civilians.
More than 150 people were wounded overall, with some in critical condition, hospitals said.
Separately, seven Palestinians were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis in the south, including a five-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital, which received the casualties.
The killings in northern Gaza did not take place near aid distribution points associated with the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israel-backed group.
Naem Ahmed’s family hugged the last bag of WFP wheat flour they received – a small celebration amid desperate conditions. Everyone in #Gaza is hungry. It’s time to flood the Strip with food and reach ALL families, everywhere – safely and without interruption. pic.twitter.com/9dUovbKz0L — World Food Programme (@WFP) July 19, 2025
Witnesses and health workers say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group’s aid distribution sites.
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The new evacuation orders cut access between the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in the narrow territory. The military also reiterated evacuation orders for northern Gaza.
The United Nations has been in contact with Israeli authorities to clarify whether UN facilities in the southwestern part of Deir al-Balah are included in the evacuation order, according to a UN official.
The official said that in previous instances, UN facilities were spared from evacuation orders.
The latest order covers an area stretching from a previously evacuated area all the way to the Mediterranean coast and will severely hamper movement for aid groups and civilians in Gaza.
The Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) group said in a statement that several humanitarian organisations’ offices and guesthouses had been “ordered to evacuate immediately” and nine clinics, including the MAP one, had been forced to shut down.
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Military spokesman Avichay Adraee called for people to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza’s southern coast that Israel’s military has designated a humanitarian zone.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza would pressure Hamas in negotiations (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The announcement came 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 asserted that expanding Israel’s military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas in negotiations.
Earlier this month, Israel’s military said it controlled more than 65% of Gaza.
Gaza’s population of more than two million Palestinians are in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Many people have been displaced multiple times.
Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many militants have been killed but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Pope condemns Gaza war’s ‘barbarity’ as 93 reported killed by Israeli fire while waiting for food
Gaza’s health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. Nine others were reportedly shot dead near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, Mahmud Basal, said. UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that a convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered “massive crowds of hungry civilians” near Gaza City who then came under gunfire. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza without providing evidence. Israel withdrew the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of office in Israel for the UN’S office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA), who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people.
Gaza’s health ministry said scores were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel. It was one of the highest reported death tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed by Israeli fire.
Elsewhere nine others were reportedly shot dead near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier, while four were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, Mahmud Basal, said.
Israel’s military said soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It did not immediately comment on the incidents in the south.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that a WFP convoy of 25 trucks carrying food aid encountered “massive crowds of hungry civilians” near Gaza City who then came under gunfire.
“WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable,” it said in a statement.
The director of al-Shifa hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told the Associated Press that since Sunday morning the hospital had received 48 people who were killed and 150 wounded while seeking aid from lorries expected to enter Gaza at the Zikim crossing. He could not say whether the dead had been killed by the Israeli army, armed gangs or both.
Before the reports of the latest Israeli shootings emerged, the pope called for “an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict” at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence near Rome.
The pope also spoke of his anguish over the Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church last week, which killed three people and injured 10. Among the injured was the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” the pope said on Sunday.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Also on Sunday, Israel withdrew the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of office in Israel for the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA), who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza without providing evidence.
There was also new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for areas of central Gaza, packed with displaced people and one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organisations attempting to distribute aid are located.
In central Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area and dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings, Reuters reported.
“They threw leaflets at us and we don’t know where we are going and we don’t have shelter or anything,” one man told the AFP news agency.
The displacement order was “another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip”, OCHA said on Sunday.
On Sunday the UN’s agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, said Israeli authorities were “starving civilians in Gaza”, including 1 million children.
“Unrwa has enough food for the entire population of Gaza for over three months stockpiled in warehouses,” it said in an earlier social media post that included photos of a warehouse in Arish, Egypt.
“Open the gates, lift the siege, allow Unrwa to do its work and help people in need among them 1 million children,” the agency said.
Unrwa said last week that babies were dying from “severe acute malnutrition”.
Israel banned all cooperation with Unrwa in Gaza and the West Bank, accusing the agency of having been infiltrated by Hamas, although an independent review found Tel Aviv had failed to provide evidence of its claims that Unrwa employees were members of terrorist organisations.
The agency had been the main distributor of aid in Gaza and provider of basic services, including health and education, to Palestinians across the region.
Since May aid has been largely distributed by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in place of the traditional UN-led system. Food has become scarce, and very expensive, since Israel imposed a blockade on 2 March.
The UN has said that as of 13 July, 875 people had been killed in recent weeks trying to get food, including 674 in the vicinity of GHF sites. The remaining 201 victims were killed on the routes or close to aid convoys run by the UN or its partners. Children have been killed fetching water for their families.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage.
At least 58,895 Palestinians have been killed and 140,980 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Sunday.
More than 90 dead in UN aid truck massacre in Gaza
At least 93 people were killed and dozens more injured, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health. The Israeli military disputed the death toll but said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands to remove “an immediate threat” A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the UN showed Gazans running as the sound of automatic gunfire could be heard. The Pope on Sunday criticised the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza, and urged against the ‘indiscriminate use of force’ by Israel’s military on a Catholic church. White House officials are increasingly frustrated with Benjamin Netanyahu and branded the Israeli prime minister a “madman” and “a child who just won’t behave”. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said: “The entire aid system is under immense strain”
The UN World Food Programme said its convoy carrying food “encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire”, soon after it crossed the border from Israel.
At least 93 died at the scene in northern Gaza with dozens more injured, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health.
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The Israeli military disputed the death toll but said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands to remove “an immediate threat”.
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the UN showed Gazans running as the sound of automatic gunfire could be heard.
“Today’s mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip,” The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour, said: “Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours.”
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Nafiz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people, and he saw his cousin and others shot dead.
The bodies of the Palestinians who were shot are lined up at a Gaza clinic – Jehad Alshrafi/AP
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the military “certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks” and that “a preliminary review indicates that the reported number of casualties does not align with existing information.”
If the death toll is confirmed, however, the incident would be the deadliest single event involving those seeking aid in a string of tragedies to hit the Strip’s displaced population in over 21 months of war.
It comes as the Pope on Sunday criticised the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza, and urged against the “indiscriminate use of force” days after a deadly strike by Israel’s military on a Catholic church.
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Meanwhile, White House officials are increasingly frustrated with Benjamin Netanyahu, according to leaks in the US media.
Various aides branded the Israeli prime minister a “madman” and “a child who just won’t behave”, referring to his recent bombing campaign in Syria.
“Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time,” one official told the Axios news outlet, using the premier’s nickname.
Sunday’s killings around the aid convoy came after huge crowds tried to reach food and medicine entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the health ministry’s records department.
People carrying sacks of aid after the convoy reached Gaza – Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Mr al-Waheidi, a Hamas official, said another six Palestinians were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of metres north of a hub of the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the southern city of Rafah.
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The GHF, the controversial body set up by the US and Israel to distribute to run the aid hubs in Gaza, distanced itself from the killings.
“The entire aid system is under immense strain,” it said in a statement.
Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres.
Seven Palestinians were also killed in tents in Khan Younis in the south in a separate incident on Sunday, including a five-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital, which received the casualties.
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A Hamas official said the deaths and the hunger crisis in Gaza could badly affect ceasefire talks in Qatar.
The group which is blocked from controlling aid under the current system, however, has been accused in the past of preventing Gazans from reaching food parcels and fermenting hostility at aid distribution points.
The group is also known to operate amongst civilians, and officials have been accused of intentionally using Gazans and civilian infrastructure as “human shields”.
First ground operations in central Gaza
The string of killings came as ceasefire talks appeared to have stalled and Israeli troops prepared for ground operations in central Gaza for the first time since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
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The IDF warned in Arabic that it was operating with “great force” as it “expands its activities into an area where it has not operated before”.
Though it has conducted air strikes in central Gaza, there have been no ground forces until now, leading many to believe hostages may be held there.
Hamas has warned that if the Israeli military approaches areas with hostages, the captives will be killed.
Mourners at a funeral. The IDF carried out air strikes on Gaza on Saturday night – Hatem Khaled/Reuters
Families of the hostages have raised concerns over IDF expansion of ground forces into central Gaza.
In February, Hamas released Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami in Deir al-Balah, an area that until now had remained relatively calm.
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“The families of hostages are shaken and fearful after the announcement by the IDF of its intent to operate in central Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Sunday.
“Can anyone assure us that this will not cost the lives of our loved ones? We expect the prime minister, defence minister and top military commanders to urgently explain to Israeli citizens and the families what the plan of action is and how they would protect the hostages still held in Gaza.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said over 58,000 people have died in the Strip since the war began – Reuters
The forum said that the expansion of ground operations should not be used as a “card” in negotiations for a ceasefire deal, as it poses “a tangible and immediate danger to their fate”.
“Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all the hostages,” the statement added.
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Multiple polls in Israel show that a large majority of the Israeli public support an end to the war to bring the hostages home.
Deir al-Balah is also home to multiple Gazan refugees who have been displaced from other areas in the Strip, which has been razed in Israel’s retaliatory attacks after the war sparked by the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023. During the terror attack 1,200 mostly civilians were killed and 251 people taken hostage and moved to Gaza.
Fighting continues across the Strip as ceasefire talks continue in Qatar. Israel blames Hamas for delaying its response to the proposal while Hamas blames Israel for obstructing its demands.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv again on Saturday night calling on the government to make a deal to bring home the hostages.
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While Israel’s war goals include the release of all hostages, only roughly 20 of whom are believed to be alive, they also insist on retaining military control in Gaza, and the complete removal of Hamas.
Hamas says it will not agree to a deal in which the Israeli military retains a presence in the Strip.
The Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza says over 58,000 people have died in the Strip since the war began, with Israel saying at least 20,000 of those are combatants.
In recent weeks, Israel has also seen dozens of its soldiers die as the war continues to claim lives on both sides.
Three regional countries are discussing aid drops by air as a result of the chaos and killings around aid centres in the Strip, Fox News reported on Sunday.
“One of those countries is actively planning to proceed with airdrops. These discussions started three weeks ago,” a reporter from the network wrote.
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