Not less than 51 Palestinians killed whereas ready for assist vans in Gaza, well being officers say

[ad_1] KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Not less than 51 Palestinians had been killed and greater than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately wanted meals, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry and an area hospital.

Palestinian witnesses instructed The Related Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a close-by dwelling earlier than opening fireplace towards the group within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis.

The Israeli navy mentioned troopers had noticed a gathering close to an assist truck that was caught in Khan Younis, close to the place Israeli forces had been working. It acknowledged “a number of casualties” as Israelis opened fireplace on the approaching crowd and mentioned authorities would examine what occurred.

The taking pictures didn't look like associated to a brand new Israeli- and U.S.-supported assist supply community that rolled out final month and has been marred by controversy and violence .

The U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, or OCHA, mentioned the individuals killed had been ready for meals rations arriving in U.N. convoys.

Additionally on Tuesday, the primary Palestinian telecoms regulatory company primarily based within the West Financial institution metropolis of Ramallah reported that Israeli strikes had lower off fixed-line telephone service and web entry in central and southern Gaza.

‘Aren’t we human beings?’ Yousef Nofal, an eyewitness, mentioned he noticed many individuals immobile and bleeding on the bottom after Israeli forces opened fireplace. “It was a bloodbath,” he mentioned, including that the troopers continued firing on individuals as they fled from the world.

Mohammed Abu Qeshfa reported listening to a loud explosion adopted by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. “I survived by a miracle,” he mentioned.

The lifeless and wounded had been taken to town’s Nasser Hospital, which confirmed 51 individuals had been killed. Later Tuesday, medical charity MSF raised the demise toll to 59, saying that one other 200 had been wounded whereas making an attempt to obtain flour rations in Khan Younis.

Samaher Meqdad was on the hospital on the lookout for her two brothers and a nephew who had been within the crowd.

“We don’t need flour. We don’t need meals. We don’t need something,” she mentioned. “Why did they fireplace on the younger individuals? Why? Aren’t we human beings?”

Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds making an attempt to succeed in meals distribution factors run by a separate U.S. and Israeli-backed assist group for the reason that facilities opened final month. Native well being officers say scores have been killed and a whole lot wounded.

In these cases, the Israeli navy has acknowledged firing warning photographs at individuals it mentioned had approached its forces in a suspicious method.

Lethal Israeli airstrikes continued elsewhere within the enclave on Tuesday. Al-Awda Hospital, a serious medical middle in northern Gaza, reported that it has acquired the our bodies of eight Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on a home within the central Bureij refugee camp.

Desperation grows as rival assist techniques can’t meet wants Israel says the brand new system operated by a personal contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation , is designed to stop Hamas from siphoning off assist to fund its militant actions.

U.N. businesses and main assist teams deny there's any main diversion of assist and have rejected the brand new system, saying it will probably’t meet the mounting wants in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian rules by permitting Israel to regulate who has entry to help.

Specialists have warned of famine within the territory that's dwelling to some 2 million Palestinians.

The U.N.-run community has delivered assist throughout Gaza all through the 20-month Israel-Hamas warfare, however has confronted main obstacles since Israel loosened a complete blockade it had imposed from early March till mid-Might.

U.N. officers say Israeli navy restrictions, a breakdown of legislation and order, and widespread looting make it tough to ship the help that Israel has allowed in.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for OCHA, mentioned on Tuesday that the help Israeli authorities have allowed into Gaza since late Might has been “woefully inadequate.”

Gas has not entered Gaza for over 100 days, she mentioned. “The one strategy to handle it's by ample volumes and over sustained intervals of time. A trickle of assist right here, a trickle of assist there's not going to make a distinction.”

Israel’s navy marketing campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians , greater than half of them ladies and kids, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry. Its rely doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel launched its marketing campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, through which militants killed round 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and taking one other 251 hostage.

The militants still hold 53 hostages , fewer than half of them alive, after a lot of the relaxation had been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Related Press author Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

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Observe AP’s warfare protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

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