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Israeli forces have killed at least 70 Palestinians and injured hundreds more in yet another massacre of people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza, representing the single deadliest day at sites related to the U.S.- and Israel-backed “aid” scheme described by the UN as a “death trap.”
On Tuesday, Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and other weapons into a crowd of Palestinians gathered in attempts to obtain aid in Khan Younis.
Witnesses said the tanks fired at least two shells onto a route used by aid trucks. Medical facilities reported being overwhelmed by the attack, as Israel has pushed Gaza’s health system to near collapse after sustained attacks on hospitals and health sites.
Health officials initially reported that 51 people were killed, and later increased the toll to 70 people, Al Jazeera reported. Video of the incident shows dead bodies scattered across the road, with one eyewitness telling Al Jazeera that there were tens of thousands of people in the crowd, and that children were among the dead.
One eyewitness, identified as Alaa, told Reuters that people were gathered around the route when, “all of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells.”
“No one is looking at these people with mercy. The people are dying, they are being torn apart, to get food for their children. Look at these people, all these people are torn to get flour to feed their children,” the person said.
The massacre occurred near a site run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). There have been near-daily reports of Israeli forces attacking and killing Palestinians gathered in hopes of receiving parcels from GHF.
Israel has been channeling most aid distribution through GHF, despite outcry from the humanitarian community who have boycotted the group. The targeting of those seeking aid from GHF spurred UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) head Philippe Lazzarini to label the scheme as a “death trap,” designed to lure starving Palestinians near aid sites just to kill them.
Israel’s violence in Gaza has escalated as the world has been distracted by its war on Iran.
Gaza health officials reported on Wednesday that Israeli forces killed at least 140 people in the past 24 hours, though it’s unclear if this includes the increased death toll. This figure includes casualties from at least two other attacks on Palestinians gathered to receive aid, with forces opening fire on aid seekers near Rafah on Tuesday and on those waiting on aid brought by the UN in central Gaza on Wednesday.
Wafa reports that Israel has killed over 300 people seeking aid from GHF since it first began operation in Gaza last month.
Meanwhile, Israel has maintained its starvation campaign in Gaza. The World Food Programme said on Wednesday that it has only been able to dispatch a “tiny fraction” of the population’s needs in Gaza in the past month. The agency warned this week that the likelihood of famine in Gaza is “growing” due to Israel’s blockade.
“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is directly responsible for the escalating Israeli crimes against starved Palestinian civilians near aid distribution points in central and southern Gaza,” said Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in a statement calling for an investigation into the group after the Khan Younis attack. “The foundation’s operational model involves luring civilians to specific locations coordinated with the Israeli army, where they are subjected to killing, injury, and cruel and degrading treatment.”
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