RAFAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — At least 21 people were killed on Sunday as they went to receive aid from an Israeli-backed foundation in the Gaza Strip, according to a hospital run by the Red Cross that received the bodies.
Officials at the field hospital said another 175 people were wounded, without saying who opened fire on them. An media reporter saw dozens of people being treated at the hospital.
Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation ’s distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites. Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded according to local health officials.
The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an earlier statement, it said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday “without incident.” It dismissed what it referred to as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.”
The gunfire on Sunday erupted at a roundabout around a kilometer (1,000 yards) from the distribution site, in an area that is controlled by Israeli forces, witnesses said.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, an eyewitness, said Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution center.
“There were many martyrs, including women,” the 40-year-old resident said. “We were about 300 meters (yards) away from the military.”
Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.
“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative.
Israel and the United States say the new system is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the U.N. denies it has occurred.
U.N. agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory.
The U.N. system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month. Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
