Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli Army Hospital officials and witnesses said they killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday for food. Malnutrition-related deaths also rose, and hungry crowds explained that they faced shootings around the aid scene.
Desperately seized the Palestinian territory of over 2 million people. Experts warn that they are facing famine Due to Israeli lockdown and nearly two years of attack.
Yousef Abed explained that in the crowd on his way to the distribution point he came under what he called an indiscriminate fire and saw at least three people bleeding to the ground.
“Because of the bullet, I couldn’t stop them and help them,” he said.
Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said it received the body from the site from a route that includes eight from Teina. Gaza Humanitarian Foundationa private US and Israeli aid contractor who took over the distribution of aid more than two months ago.
The hospital received one body from Shekaush, hundreds of meters (yards) north of the GHF site in Rafa. Nine other aids said they had been killed by troops near the Morag corridor.
Three Palestinian witnesses seeking food in Teina and Morag said the Associated Press was occurring on the route to the distribution point and in a military belt protected by Israeli forces. They said the soldiers saw the hungry crowd as they proceeded towards the army.
Officials from a hospital far north of central Gaza explained a similar episode, with Israeli forces firing Sunday morning at a crowd of Palestinians trying to reach the GHF’s fourth and northernmost distribution points.
“The military was trying to prevent people from moving forward. They fired, we ran away. Some people were shot dead,” said Hamza Matter, one of those seeking assistance.
At least five people have been killed and 27 injured near the GHF site near Netzarim Corridor, according to AWDA Hospital.
Eyewitnesses seeking food have reported similar shootings near the recent aid distribution site, killing dozens of Palestinians.
The United Nations reported that 859 people were killed near the GHF site from May 27 to July 31, and hundreds more were killed along the route of the unpublished food convoy.
The GHF was launched in May, with Israel calling for an alternative to the UN-Run system. This was accused of allowing Hamas, who provided safe assistance for most of the war, but defending the convoy early in the war.
Israel does not provide evidence of widespread theft. The United Nations denied that.
GHF says armed contractors use only pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent fatal crowds. Israeli forces say they will only fire warning shots. Both claimed that the number of deaths was exaggerated.
Israeli military quickly responded to questions about reported deaths Sunday. The GHF media office said there were no gunshots “nearby or at our site.”
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said six more Palestinians have died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours. The victim on Sunday said the Palestinian adult death toll has reached 82 for the five weeks since the province began counting adult deaths in late June. Malnutrition-related deaths are not included in the province’s war victims.
The 93 children have died from causes related to malnutrition since the start of the war in Gaza in 2023, the ministry said.
Israeli Minister prays at the Holy Land of Flashpoint
Itamar Ben Gwil, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. This was quickly condemned as agitation by Palestinian leaders, not just Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In a compound on the hilltop in the Old Town, which is respected by Jews and Muslims, Ben Gwil called on Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave.
“This is the only way to win the war by returning hostages,” he said.
His visit on Sunday in honor of Tisha Bhav, the day Jews mourn the destruction of two Jewish temples at this place was the first time a government minister prayed openly at that place.
Under the current status, Jews are allowed to tour the site, but prayers are prohibited as Israeli police and military provide safety. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has since said that Israel will not change the norms that govern the holy sites.
Nabil Abu Rudain, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned Ben Gwyr’s visit. Ambassador Sufian Kuda, a spokesman for Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, pleaded Israel to prevent escalation, denounced what he called “a provocative aggression by extremist ministers.”
Ben Gwil’s visit took place at Tisha Bhav, the day Jews lamented the destruction of the temple. He denounced the video that Hamas released 24-year-old hostage Eviatar David, showing that he was debilitated in the dimly lit tunnels of Gaza.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second largest extremist group, sparked anger this week when they released separate videos of individual hostages. Although Israeli media is not broadcasting the video and calls it propaganda, Netanyahu met with hostage families on Saturday and pledged further efforts to get it back to Israel.
Red crescent facility was fired
Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces attacked Khan Eunice’s Southern City headquarters early Sunday, killing staff and injuring three other people.
According to a video released by the organization, the overnight strike destroyed the organization’s multi-storey building, leaving an office full of broken concrete and blood with holes in the walls and floors.
Red Crescent said the troops fired the Khan Younis facility three times around 1am local time.
According to Nasser Hospital, Israeli strikes have been attacked, where Israeli strikes have been protected and killed at schools that have killed at least two people.
Israeli military did not immediately answer any questions about either strike.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and acquiring another 251 people. Still holding 50 prisonersabout 20 were believed to be alive after most of the rest were released in ceasefires and other transactions. Israeli retaliatory military attacks killed more 60,400 Palestiniansaccording to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants by their numbers, has medical professionals located there. The United Nations and other independent experts consider the figures the most reliable victim. Israel disputes the figures but does not provide a unique account of the victims.
___
The Mets reported from Jerusalem and Magdi in Cairo.
___
Follow the AP war report https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
