As the UN demands an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in the strip, Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinians who were trying to get humanitarian aid from a distribution center in Gaza, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30.
According to health officials and witnesses, the shooting broke out at sunrise on Monday at the same Israeli-backed aid facility in southern Gaza where soldiers had opened fire the day before.
From Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, “The Israeli military opened fire on civilians without any kind of warning,” the report read.
International aid organizations have widely condemned this pattern because it makes it harder for the government to act on its own without making it possible for those in desperate need to receive humanitarian aid.
Witnesses claimed that Israeli drones and quadcopter drones regularly monitor aid facilities run by Israel’s and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, about 50 people were shot in the most recent shooting, of which two were killed upon arrival. The majority of the time had been struck by shrapnel or bullets. A third body was transported to Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital.
Moataz al-Feirani, 21, claimed he was shot in the leg as he and thousands of others approached the food truck.
He told The Associated Press that “we had nothing,” adding that surveillance drones circled overhead and that “the Israeli military” were keeping an eye on us. He claimed that the shooting broke out around 5:30 am (02:30 GMT) close to the Flag Roundabout.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded an independent investigation into the widespread massacre of Palestinians on Monday in response to the pattern of deadly violence that has erupted around the GHF aid distribution site.
Palestinians risking their lives for food, he said, is unacceptable. “I demand that these events be investigated immediately and independently, and that those responsible be held accountable.”
Israeli soldiers fired “warning shots” at people who “posed a threat,” according to the Israeli military, who has denied targeting civilians.
The GHF has also denied that the shootings took place, despite the fact that Jake Wood, its founding executive director, left before operations even started after he questioned the organization’s “impartiality” and “independence.”
Critics claimed that the group uses its aid concentration in the south to avoid well-established international organizations as a cover for Israel’s wider campaign to depopulate northern Gaza.
After Israel partially lifted a total siege that for more than two months shut down more than two million people from receiving food, water, fuel, and medicine, aid is still only trickling in from Gaza.
The UN has previously warned that a large number of children are at risk of perishing from hunger-related causes.
At least 51 people were killed in 24 hours.
Israeli airstrikes remained retaliatory over residential areas throughout the area.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense Agency, Israeli forces attacked a home in Jabalia in northern Gaza, killing 14 people, including seven children. At least 20 people were still encased beneath the rubble.
Another attack in Deir el-Balah claimed the lives of two more Palestinians and injured several others, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, and a drone strike in Khan Younis claimed the lives of two more.
In the most recent 24-hour reporting period, the Gaza-based Ministry of Health reported that at least 51 Palestinians had died and 503 had been hurt in Israeli-related attacks alone.
Israel’s military ordered the displacement of even more civilians from Khan Younis on Monday despite receiving more international condemnation and admonition to use “great force.”
As Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are crammed into an ever-diminishing patch of land near the Egyptian border, roughly 80% of the strip is currently either under Israeli military control or designated for forced evacuation, according to new data from the Financial Times.
As officials who publicly support “voluntary migration” plans, Israel has kept its intentions a secret about its intention to permanently relocate the population of Gaza.
According to The Financial Times, the areas Palestinians are being shoved into resemble a “desert wasteland without running water, electricity, or even hospitals.”
In evacuated areas, Israeli forces positioned military installations and cleared land.
According to analysts who examined dozens of recent forced evacuation orders, the trend has gotten worse since the end of a truce in March.
Political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera, “The Israeli government has been very clear about what their plan is about in Gaza.”
Source: Aljazeera
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