More than two dozen people were killed early Tuesday by Israeli fire as they tried to reach aid in Gaza, local health officials said, following the latest in a string of incidents surrounding a controversial new aid distribution system in the enclave.
The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday morning that at least 27 people were killed, with dozens injured, as they waited for aid at a designated site in the area of what is known as the “Al-Alam” roundabout in the southern city of Rafah.
NBC News was not immediately able to verify those figures.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired what it described as “warning fire” at a number of people about half a kilometer, or 0.3 miles, away from an aid distribution site — and that it was aware of reports of casualties and was looking into the matter.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops had identified several people moving toward them “in such a way that posed a threat to them” and appearing to deviate from designated aid access routes, but did not expand on what threat those people posed.
“After the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” it said.
In a statement Tuesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — the U.S. and Israel-backed organization has been tasked with distributing aid in the enclave — said that “while the aid distribution was conducted safely and without incident at our site today, we understand that IDF is investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone.”
“This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area,” the GHF added. “We recognize the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when traveling to our distribution sites.”
The incident is the latest in a string of similar events in which health officials and humanitarian groups say Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid under a new distribution system that has been condemned by humanitarian groups that include aid-related bodies of the United Nations.
It comes after Gaza health officials reported Monday that at least three people were killed and dozens injured when Israeli forces opened fire as people made their way toward a food distribution site, Reuters reported. The Israeli military said it was aware of reports of casualties and that the incident was being looked into, Reuters added.
That, in turn, came a day after more than 30 people were killed in a similar event Sunday, with hundreds also injured according to local health officials and aid workers. Witnesses described coming under fire while waiting for aid and attempting to reach a distribution site to NBC News’ crew on the ground.
The Israeli military vigorously denied those reports, as did the GHF.
Following Sunday’s incident, an Israeli military official told NBC News that soldiers fired warning shots “toward several suspects” about a half-mile from an aid distribution center, but they maintained that there was no connection between this and what they described as “false claims” made against the military.
In a statement issued Monday, the GHF maintained “there were no injuries, fatalities or incidents” during their operations Sunday.
“We have yet to see any concrete evidence that there was an attack at or near our facility yesterday and that evidence-based reporting should be at least the minimum requirement for news outlets,” GHF said.
In its statement on Tuesday’s incident, the IDF said it allowed GHF to operate independently in order to enable the distribution of aid to Palestinian residents in Gaza “and not to Hamas,” repeating a claim of Hamas diverting aid from civilians that Israeli officials have cited as being a key reason for introducing the new system — as well as for its 11-week aid blockade that it lifted last month.
Aid groups, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, have previously told NBC News that they have not seen instances of aid being diverted to Hamas during the war in Gaza.
