Survivors describe latest Gaza aid site mass shooting
Earlier we reported on more deadly shootings of starving Palestinians seeking food aid in Gaza at Israel-US-backed distribution sites. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire around dawn toward crowds of desperate people heading to two aid sites in southern Rafah.
Umm Hosni al-Najjar said she joined the crowd heading to the aid point in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood around 4:30am (01:30 GMT). She said the shooting began as people advanced to the site a few minutes after her arrival. “No one was able to evacuate them.”
“There were wounded and martyrs,” said Ahmed al-Masri as he returned from one of the sites empty-handed. “It’s a trap.”
Experts and aid workers say Israel’s blockade and military campaign have caused widespread hunger and raised the risk of famine.
Latest from Israel’s war on Gaza
Israeli attacks on Gaza continue unabated. Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that Israeli army fire across the besieged territory has killed at least 23 people since dawn today, including 11 people waiting to get aid.
According to the latest figures by the Health Ministry in Gaza, the number of people killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war is at least 55,297, with 128,426 others wounded.
Gaza death toll rises amid new Israeli attacks
The bodies of at least 65 Palestinians have been brought to Gaza over the past 24-hour reporting period, according to the besieged territory’s Health Ministry. The figure included eight bodies of people killed in previous Israeli attacks and recovered from the rubble in the war-torn territory, the ministry said.
Additionally, at least 315 people were wounded in Israeli attacks over the same 24-hour period, it added. The figures bring the number of people killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war to 55,362 killed, with another 128,741 wounded.
Israel has killed 5,071 Palestinians and wounded 16,700 since breaking a ceasefire in March this year.
What’s happening across the West Bank?
Here are some recent developments across the occupied West Bank:
- Israeli settlers set fire to lands in Huwara, in the south of Nablus, before opening fire on civil defence personnel approaching to extinguish the fire.
- The head of the village of Khirbet Ibziq in the northeast of Tubas says Israeli settlers stole a water tanker in the area at dawn.
- Israeli forces have installed a new iron gate at the entrance of Hizma, in the northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, to restrict the movement of Palestinians in the area.
- They have also said they are going to bulldoze and uproot trees in the village of al-Sawiya in the south of Nablus.
