Israeli forces in theGazaStrip opened fire as people headed towards a food distribution site at about sunrise on Monday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens, health officials and a witness said. The military said it fired warning shots at “suspects” who approached its forces.
The shooting occurred at the same location where witnesses say Israeli forces fired a day earlier on crowds of people heading towards the food distribution hub in southern Gaza run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on Monday toward “several suspects who advanced toward the troops and posed a threat to them”, about 1km (0.6 miles) away from the food distribution site at a time when it was closed. The army denied it was preventing people from reaching the site.
The UN and leading aid groups have rejected the foundation’s new system for food distribution. They say it violates humanitarian principles and cannot meet mounting needs in the territory of roughly 2 million people, whereexperts have warned of faminebecause of an Israeli blockade that was only slightly eased last month.
In a separate incident on Monday, an Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza killed 14 people, according to health officials. The Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, saying five women and seven children were among those killed.
The military said it had struck “terror targets” across northern Gaza, without elaborating. Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group is entrenched in populated areas.
A Red Cross field hospital received 50 injured people, including two declared dead on arrival, after the shooting in southern Gaza, according to Hisham Mhanna, a Red Cross spokesperson. He said most had gunfire and shrapnel wounds. Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Younis said it received a third body.
Moataz al-Feirani, 21, who was being treated at Nasser hospital, said he was shot in his leg as he walked with a crowd of thousands towards the food distribution site. He said Israeli forces opened fire as they neared the Flag Roundabout at about 5:30 am.
“We had had nothing, and they [the Israeli military] were watching us,” he said, adding that drones were filming them.
On Sunday, at least31 people were killedand more than 170 injured at the Flag Roundabout as large crowds headed towards the food distribution site, according to local health officials, aid groups and several eyewitnesses. The witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowds at about 3 am after ordering them to disperse and come back when the distribution site opened.
Israel’s military on Sunday denied its forces fired at civilians near the site in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, a military zone off limits to independent media. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with procedure, said troops fired warning shots at several suspects advancing towards them overnight.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has denied previous accounts of chaos and gunfire around its sites, said it had delivered aid on both days without incident.
On Sunday night, the foundation issued a statement, saying food recipients must stay on the designated route to reach the hub on Monday, and that Israeli troops are positioned along the way to ensure their security. “Leaving the road is extremely dangerous,” the statement said.
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said he was “appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza” on Sunday. “It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.”
“I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable,” he said in a statement on Monday.
Israel and the US say they helped establish the new food distribution system to circumvent Hamas, which they accuse of siphoning off assistance.
UN agencies deny there is any systemic diversion of aid and say the new system violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who receives food and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances to receive it.
Palestinians must pass close to Israeli forces and cross military lines to reach the GHF hubs, in contrast to the UN aid network, which delivers aid to where Palestinians are located.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas is still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after others were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by UNagencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pull-out.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned, and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. It has said it will maintain control of Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what it refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population.
Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected the resettlement plans, viewing them as forcible expulsion.