WHO cites aid distribution after latest Gaza mass killing
The World Health Organization says it received reports of the mass casualty incident in Gaza as people waited for food supplies.
“This is again the result of another food distribution initiative,” said Thanos Gargavanis, WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer.
Earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli tank and drone fire killed at least 51 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
The killings are the latest in near-daily mass deaths of desperate people seeking food in the past weeks, including near sites operated by the Israel-US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“There’s a constant correlation with the positions of the four announced food distribution sites and the mass casualty incidents,” Gargavanis said, saying trauma injuries in recent days were mostly from gunshot wounds.
Half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation, a global hunger monitor said last month.
Gaza death toll rises
At least 61 bodies have been brought to Gaza’s hospitals over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry says. Additionally, at least 397 people were injured in Israeli attacks over the same period.
The figures bring the number of people killed in the territory since the start of the war in October 2023 to 55,493, with at least 129,320 wounded.
Israeli attacks have killed 5,194 Palestinians and injured 17,279 others since breaking a ceasefire with Hamas in March.
Gaza death toll rises to 89 after bloody day of Israeli attacks
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 89 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, with more than 70 people dying while waiting for aid in southern Khan Younis.
“Bodies were strewn in the streets. People were attacked while waiting for aid and flour to arrive … People are hungry and desperate, they just wanted food,” said survivor Awad Barbakh.
Witness Saeed Abu Lebda said civilians were “blown to pieces, body parts were scattered all over the place”. “The number of victims is way more than those brought to the hospital. But no one could reach them to provide help,” he said.
