The witnesses said Israeli forces fired on crowds on Sunday around a kilometer away from an aid site run by an Israeli-backed foundation.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — At least 31 individuals lost their lives and many more were injured on Sunday while on their way to collect food in the Gaza Strip, health authorities and several eyewitnesses reported. Witnesses claimed that Israeli forces fired at groups approximately a kilometer (about 1,000 yards) away from a food distribution center managed by an Israeli-supported organization.
The military issued a short statement noting they are “currently unaware of any injuries resulting from (Israeli military) fire at the Humanitarian Aid distribution site. The situation is being evaluated.”
The foundation stated that they successfully delivered aid “without incident” earlier on Sunday and dismissed past reports of turmoil and gunfire at their locations, which are situated in Israeli military-controlled areas with restricted independent access.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 31 people were killed and 170 others were wounded.
A new aid system marred by chaos
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ’s distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites. Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded according to local health officials.
The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
The foundation said in a statement that it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday “without incident,” and dismissed what it referred to as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.”
‘The scene was horrible’
Thousands of people headed toward the distribution site hours before dawn. As they headed toward the site, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1 kilometer (1,000 yards) away, at around 3 a.m., Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said.
“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd.
He said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded to the field hospital. “The scene was horrible,” he said.
Most of the casualties were shot “in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest,” said Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a health ministry official at Nasser Hospital, where many of the wounded were transferred after being initially brought to a field hospital run by the Red Cross.
He said 24 people were being treated in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, another eyewitness said the military fired from about 300 meters (yards) away.
Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading toward the distribution site. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.
“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he was waiting outside a field hospital run by the Red Cross for word on his wounded relative.
An AP reporter arrived at the field hospital at around 6 a.m. and saw dozens of wounded, including women and children. The reporter also saw crowds of people returning from the distribution point. Some were carrying boxes of aid but most appeared to be coming back empty-handed.
Officials at the field hospital said at least 21 people were killed and another 175 were wounded, without saying who opened fire on them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. The Health Ministry provided the same toll and later updated it.
The UN says new aid system violates humanitarian principles
Israel and the United States say the new system is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the U.N. denies it has occurred.
U.N. agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory.
The U.N. system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month. Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Experts have warned that the territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory, displaced around 90% of its population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.
On Sunday, Israel said its forces killed the commander of a militant cell it says was behind an attack that killed 21 soldiers in the early months of the war. It was among the deadliest single events for the military in 19 months of fighting, excluding Hamas’ initial onslaught. The soldiers were killed when a blast from a rocket-propelled grenade fired by militants triggered explosives they were laying to blow up buildings.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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