Cnn
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Dozens of Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army near a site for aid distribution in Gaza on Sunday according to Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses, the Israeli army denying that its troops fired “inside or near” from the aid site.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health, hospital officials and half a dozen eyewitnesses said the Israeli army was responsible for gunshots. Palestinian officials said 31 Palestinians had been killed. The Israeli army said that its forces “had not shot civilians when they were close or inside” from the aid site, but an Israeli military source recognized that Israeli forces were dismissed towards individuals at around 1 kilometer (1093 yards), before the opening of the aid site.
The incident is the last in which the Palestinians were killed while they were trying to receive aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial mechanism supported by the United States to distribute aid to the besieged and hungry enclave after a Israeli blockade of several months.
The GHF was criticized by the United Nations and others, which warn that it may move the Palestinians more and endanger civilians and last week. The previous distributions of aid on its sites were tainted by chaos and violence.
Several eyewitnesses told CNN that they had been dismissed on what is called the “Al-Alam” roundabout at around 800 meters (874 yards) of the site managed by the GHF in the south of Gaza.
The Ministry of Health said that more than 200 victims had reached hospitals, including dozens of serious injuries. He added that everyone killed had been shot in the head or chest. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that it had received “an influx of 179 cases, including women and children” in its neighboring country hospital, of which 21 who were declared dead when they arrived. Other dead and injured were transported to Nasser hospital.
“This is the greatest number of weapons injured in a single incident since the creation of the field hospital over a year ago,” the Red Cross in a statement said.
Thousands of Palestinians went to the Rafah aid distribution site during the dawn on Sunday, hoping to be among the first to obtain aid before the opening of the site, paramedical of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRC), declared the only health professionals present in the region at the time, in CNN.
A medical official told CNN that it was impossible to identify who was drawing “but these areas of distribution are all under the responsibility of the Israeli army with regard to security. Whether they shoot or others working for them, it is always their responsibility. ”
CNN cannot check independently who was responsible for the shooting. Israel prevents international media from entering Gaza.
The Israeli Defense Forces (FRI) said that the allegations that Israeli soldiers have dismissed on the Gazans near or inside the aid distribution site were “false reports”. He added: “The conclusions of an initial survey indicate that the FDIs did not shoot civilians while they were close or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports for this purpose are false.”
An Israeli military source said TSAhal’s forces had warnings about the suspects approaching their position about one kilometer (1,100 meters) of the aid distribution site in an incident that occurred several hours before the site is opened.
In an article on X, Philippe Lazzarini – Executive Director of UNRWA, the main United Nations agency in the Palestinian territories – said that “the distribution of aid has become a deadly trap. Mass victims, including dozens of injured and killed among hungry civilians due to gunshots this morning. This is in accordance with international medical reports in the field. ”
Dr. Ahmed Abu Sweid, an Australian working in the Nasser medical complex, said the victims of the aid center zone had ball injuries and bursts of shells. Some were shot in the head and chest, he said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which manages the site, insisted: “There was no shots in the center (distribution) and not also in the surroundings.”
“Any help has been distributed today without incident. We have heard that these false reports were actively fomented by Hamas. They are false and manufactured. ”
Later Sunday, the Foundation published a surveillance video showing hundreds of people who go to the distribution point in Dawn. A 4 -minute video, which was without sound, has shown no violence or injury, but there was what seemed to be two bursts of shooting traceer nearby. Other GHF videos published later showed hundreds of people with food boxes.
Witnesses told CNN chaotic scenes when people were trampled on in the middle of what they said were random shots. A man said: “It is not a humanitarian point – it is a death trap.”
The CNN video showed thousands of people who were running away from the site. Some transported plastic bags and empty cardboard boxes, but none seemed to have received aid.
A man, Ghassan Eid al-Aghan, told CNN: “We could not even reach the place where help was distributed.”
“The situation is terrifying. Heavy shots. I will not risk my life to go. Things cannot happen like that,” he added.
Mohammad Qdeih said people had been informed that the doors would open at 5.30 am local time, but that there were intense shots.
“The amount of help brings Americans is tiny,” said Qdieh. “The one who manages to move forward could get something. Those who can not get anything.”
“They shoot everyone – women, children, innocent civilians who have nothing to do with anything,” said Qdieh.
Basel Abu Alwan said he arrived on the site on Saturday evening. Instructions had been given via a drone telling people to return at 6 a.m., he said. “No distribution occurs. People are advancing and falling. The shots are sprayed at random on everyone,” he said.
“The one who can catch something. Otherwise, they can be trampled on,” he added.
Many civilians told CNN that they had left everywhere they stayed around midnight to do the long trek towards the distribution site – but most of them left empty hand.
Abdul Majid al-Zayti said he had walked for seven hours to reach the site. “Many people have not obtained anything. The big crowd from Gaza City and other regions has obtained nothing,” he said.
“I couldn’t get help. I am an old man. I have hungry children. Nobody in this world wants to help them. ”
A man who refused to give his name said that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation “will place four or five wooden plates with help on them and open the doors so that people can take over and fight.”
Near the same Junction of Al-Alam on Monday morning, three Palestinians were slaughtered and dozens of injuries as they went to the point of distribution of aid, according to the Ministry of Health, which said that Israeli forces opened fire as they were approaching the location. The FDI said that Israeli forces had fired “to several suspects who have advanced to the troops” in Rafah.
The GHF has been put in place in the midst of Israeli accusations that Hamas steals from the aid to Gaza and benefits from sales, although Israel has presented no publicly evidence.
The United Nations aid groups, such as UNRWA, generally check identification and rely on a database of families recorded during the aid distribution.
But the GHF is Do not detect the Palestinians on the aid distribution sitesDespite Israeli officials who say that additional security measures were a fundamental reason for creating the new program.
The United Nations help agencies have criticized the GHF aid mechanism, saying that it violates humanitarian principles and increases the risks for the Palestinians.
Criticism rose against Israel And the GHF after Chaos broke out last week When tens of thousands of hungry Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 11 people were killed and dozens injured since the opening of aid distribution sites last week – before the victims on Sunday.
In a press release published on Sunday, the GHF said that it “would continue to scale up, with plans to build additional sites across Gaza, including in the northern region, in the coming weeks”.
The press release added that it had provided more than 4.7 million meals in six days, including providing 16 food trucks on Sunday morning, offering more than 887,000 meals.
The acting executive director of GHF, John Acree, acknowledged Sunday that “the humanitarian relief flow in Gaza remains well below what is necessary. The demand is overwhelming – and increases day by day. ”
He added that the GHF was “currently the only organization able to deliver food for sure, but we always operate under immense constraints and at the mercy of factors independent of our will”.
This story has been updated with additional developments.