Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of people shot while returning from an aid site associated with the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. It was part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians around the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month.
The shootings happened around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the GHF site in Khan Younis, as Palestinians returned from the site along the only accessible route. Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid.
Nasser Hospital said an additional person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah. Another person was killed while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Awda hospital.
Ten other people were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.
Witnesses describe Israeli gunfire
One witness, Monzer Hisham Ismail said troops attacked the crowds returning from the GHF hub in Khan Younis.
“We were targeted by (the Israeli) artillery,” he said.
Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar was walking with dozens of others when he saw troops in tanks and other vehicles racing toward them. They fired warning shots before firing at the crowds, he said.
“They fired at us indiscriminately,” he said, adding that he was shot in a leg, and a man was shot while attempting to rescue him.
He said he saw troops detaining six people, including three children. “We don’t know whether they are still alive,” he said.
