ISRAELI attacks have killed at least 78 people in the Gaza Strip since dawn, including 14 Palestinians who were waiting near aid distribution centres, medical sources told Al Jazeera, even as United States President Donald Trump said “great progress” was being made to bring an end to the war.
Sources at al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least nine Palestinians were killed and several others injured by Israeli fire early on Wednesday while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Junction in central Gaza.
The deaths are the latest in a wave of violence near aid distribution points established late last month by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which critics have slammed as “human slaughterhouses” and “death traps”.
The GHF has come under fierce criticism from aid agencies and the United Nations, which says the group is not able to meet the population’s needs and turns food into a weapon for Israel to carry out its military operations.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said aid distribution centres run by GHF are typically established very close to where Israeli forces are stationed, with their tanks, armoured vehicles and surrounding snipers.
“So when large crowds gather, they are vulnerable to Israeli fire,” he said.
“Disturbingly, people are given just 20-minute windows at the aid centres to get their hands on whatever is available, such as food parcels. Once that 20-minute period ends, shooting often starts. That is one of the reasons we’re seeing large numbers of people dying at these centres,” he added.
There is growing pressure on the GHF, which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May, to look into the attacks. But the organisation has denied responsibility.
Israel has said previous shootings near GHF aid sites have been provoked by the approach of “suspects” towards soldiers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, in the meantime, has said that the health and humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave have reached catastrophic levels due to the punishing Israeli blockade preventing urgent medical supplies reaching those in desperate need.
