Eleven Palestinians seeking aid were among at least 33 killed by Israeli gunfire and strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, rescuers and medics say.
A spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defence agency said Israeli forces “opened fire and launched several shells” at thousands of people who were queuing for desperately needed food supplies on the main Salah al-Din Road.
The Israeli military said troops operating in the Nuseirat area fired warning shots overnight after a group approached them in a manner that posed a potential threat, but that it was unaware of any injuries.
Another 19 people were killed in three Israeli air strikes in northern and southern Gaza, according to the civil defence agency.
They included eight who died when a home was hit in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, it said.
Regarding the air strikes, the Israeli military said it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in the territory.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday afternoon that at least 140 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours.
The ministry reported on Tuesday that 51 people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern city of Khan Younis, while the UN cited partner organisations working on health as putting the death toll at more than 60.
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that Israeli tanks and drones opened fire as crowds gathered near a charity community centre and a warehouse belonging to the UN’s World Food Programme.
The Israeli military acknowledged that its troops were in the area and said the details of the incident were under review.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, the civil defence agency said another seven people seeking aid were killed and many others were injured on Rashid Street north-west of Gaza City.
A doctor at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told Reuters news agency that the fatalities were the result of Israeli air strikes and that the injuries were caused by gunfire.
Umm Fida Masoud said her son “went to bring a bag of flour and came back [injured] in a bag”.
Meanwhile, a local journalist posted footage that he said showed his cousin celebrating after collecting a bag of flour for his family.
“A 50kg bag. I pulled it out from under the truck, inches from death,” he declares.
Almost 400 people have been killed while trying to get aid since 26 May, when the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened the first of its three distribution centre, according to the health ministry.
The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to the 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza.
The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the new system, saying it contravenes the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
They also warn that Gaza’s population faces catastrophic levels of hunger after an 11-week total Israeli blockade that was partially eased a month ago.
The US and Israel say GHF’s system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing.
On Wednesday, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) condemned it as “lame, medieval and lethal”.
“Inviting starving people to their death is a war crime. Those responsible of this system must be held accountable,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
“This is a disgrace and a stain on our collective consciousness.”
The GHF has not commented, but it said in a statement that it had so far distributed 30 million meals across its three distribution centres “without incident”.
“We remain focused on a singular mission: to feed the people of Gaza – and we are committed to scaling our efforts to reach even more in need,” it added.
The WFP meanwhile warned that the 9,000 tonnes of food aid it had dispatched over the past four weeks was “a tiny fraction” of what was needed in Gaza.
It also said the desperate need for food was causing large crowds to gather along well-known transport routes, hoping to intercept and access humanitarian supplies while in transit.
“Only a massive scale-up in food distributions can stabilize the situation, calm anxieties and rebuild the trust within communities that more food is coming,” it said.
Israeli military body Cogat reported that 85 lorry loads of aid entered southern and northern Gaza via the Kerem Shalom and Erez West crossings on Tuesday, 66 of which were collected. Another 380 lorry loads of aid were waiting for collection by the UN, it said.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 55,637 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
