Palestinians say 36 people killed trying to obtain desperately needed aid
‘People are killed just trying to get food’
In southern Gaza, at least eight people were killed while trying to obtain aid around Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital.
In northern Gaza, two men and a child were killed and at least 130 were wounded on Tuesday, according to Nader Garghoun, a spokesperson for the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. He said most were being treated for gunshot wounds.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire at around 2 a.m., several hundred meters (yards) from the aid site in central Gaza.
Crowds of Palestinians seeking desperately needed food often head to the sites hours before dawn, hoping to beat the crowds.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people it referred to as suspects. It said they had advanced toward its troops hundreds of meters (yards) from the aid site prior to its opening hours.
Mohammed Abu Hussein, a resident of the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp, said Israeli drones and tanks opened fire, and that he saw five people wounded by gunshots.
Abed Haniyah, another witness, said Israeli forces opened fire “indiscriminately” as thousands of people were attempting to reach the food site.
“What happens every day is humiliation," he said. "Every day, people are killed just trying to get food for their children.”
Additionally, three Palestinian medics were killed in an Israeli strike Tuesday in Gaza City, according to the health ministry.
The medics from the health ministry’s emergency service were responding to an Israeli attack on a house in Jaffa street in Gaza City when a second strike hit the building, the ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike, but said over the past day the air force has hit dozens of targets belonging to Hamas' military infrastructure, including rocket launchers.
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