DAIAL BARA, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Gaza hospital reported that the Israeli fire on Saturday killed more than 12 people, eight people seeking food, as Palestinians withstand serious risks during restrictions on the provision of land aid.
Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek assistance on Saturday morning, described what is now awfully familiar scene of panic near the distribution site of the Humanitarian Foundation of Gaza. After helping to run the three people injured by gunshots, he looked around and said he saw many others bleeding to the ground.
“It’s the same episode every day,” Youssef said.
In response to questions about witnesses of violence at the northernmost tip of four Israeli-backed American contractor sites, the GHF Media Office said “nothing happened (at or near our site).”
This episode came the day after US authorities visited one site and visited Israeli Mike Huckabee’s US ambassador. International rage is growing as the group’s efforts to deliver aid to hungered Gaza are undermined by violence and controversy.
“We weren’t approaching them (the army), but there was no threat,” said Abed Sara, a man in his 30s who was in the crowd near the GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. “I miraculously escaped death.”
International hunger experts faced with the risks of Gaza this week “The Worst Scenario of Hungry” In a besieged enclave. A nearly 22-month military attack on Israel’s Hamas has shattered the security of the territory of around 2 million Palestinians and created it It’s almost impossible to deliver food safely To the hungry people.
From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed near the GHF site, according to a UN report issued Thursday. Hundreds more were killed along the food convoy route.
Israel and the GHF say they only fired warning shots and the tolls are exaggerated.
GHF says armed contractors use only pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent fatal crowds. Israel “The military said it only fired warning shots at people approaching the force, but on Friday it said it was working to make the routes under its control safer.
Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes and firefights killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday.
Authorities said 10 of Saturday’s casualties were killed in attacks in central and southern Gaza. Nasser Hospital said it received five bodies killed in two separate strikes in a tent protecting the displaced people. The dead include two siblings and one relative.
Gaza Health Ministry ambulance and emergency services said an Israeli strike struck a family home in the area between Zawaida and Deial Al Bala towns, killing two parents and three children.
Another strike crashed into a tent near the gates of a closed prison where the prison evacuated to Khan Yunis, killing his mother and daughter, they said.
The hospital said Israeli forces had killed five other Palestinians who were in the crowd waiting for assistance near Rafa’s newly built Morag Corridor and between Rafa and Khan Yunis.
The Israeli military did not immediately answer questions about strikes and deaths near the aid site.
Hostage families protest to end the war
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, the families of Israeli hostages protested, urging the Israeli government to push for a stronger release of their loved ones, including those shown in footage released by extremist groups earlier this week.
Steve Witkov, a special mission to US President Donald Trump, joined them a week after their visit to Gaza, denounced Hamas’ incommunity and pledged to find other ways to free hostages and make Gaza safe.
Of the 251 hostages accused when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, 20 are believed to be alive in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second largest extremist group, released individual videos of individual hostages this week, sparking outrage among hostage families and Israeli society.
Although Israeli media doesn’t broadcast the video and calls it propaganda, the family of 21-year-old Rom Braslavsky has allowed the release of photos showing him being visible and debilitated in unknown places. After watching the video, his mother, Tami Braslavsky, denounced the top Israeli officials and demanded that they meet with her.
“They broke my child, I want him home now,” Braslavsky told Ynet on Thursday. “Look at him: thin, limp, cry. All his bones are out.”
The families of hostages protesting in Tel Aviv and their supporters have called on the Israeli government to sign a contract to end the war and to plead with ‘stop this nightmare and get out of the tunnel’.
“You just do the right thing and do it now,” said Rior Kolev, chief strategy officer at the Hostage Family Forum.
Despite limited impact, the airdrop expands
To avoid restrictions on aid track land crossing into Gaza, additional countries joined the Jordan-led coalition, organising a Jordan-led coalition that was dropped from the sky.
Alongside Israel, several European countries announced plans this week to take part in the air drop effort, but most acknowledge that their strategy is grossly inadequate
“If there is a political will to allow airdrops that are very expensive, inadequate and inefficient, there should be a similar political will to open road crossings,” Philip Lazarini, head of the United Nations agency of Palestinian refugees, wrote to X on Saturday. “Let’s go back to what works and get work done.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 civilians, primarily civilians. Israel’s retaliation attack More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killedGaza’s Ministry of Health says it does not distinguish between extremists and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations consider it the most reliable source of data on victims.
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The Mets reported from Jerusalem and Magdi in Cairo.
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