The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people.
Cairo:
Gaza Health Ministry officials said on Thursday that Israeli fire killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens more as large crowds of Gaza City residents waited for aid trucks.
Israeli forces opened fire on Wednesday night as Palestinians rushed to buy aid at the Kuwait roundabout north of Gaza City, residents and health officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
The conflict in Gaza has displaced much of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and has caused chaotic scenes and deadly incidents as desperately hungry people fight for food.
On February 29, the Palestinian health authority stated that Israeli troops shot and killed more than 100 Palestinians near Gaza City while they were waiting for the delivery of aid supplies. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds surrounding the aid truck, saying the victims were trampled or run over.
An Israeli missile hit a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Thursday, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli air and ground bombardments continued throughout the night, targeting the entire enclave, including Rafah in the south, where more than a million displaced people are seeking refuge.
According to Israeli statistics, the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages. Health authorities in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said subsequent Israeli air, sea and ground attacks killed more than 31,000 Palestinians.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israeli military strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed 69 Palestinians and injured 110 in the past 24 hours.
The war is now in its sixth month, with the United Nations warning that at least 576,000 people in Gaza, a quarter of the population, are on the brink of famine and global pressure on Israel growing to allow more People enter this enclave.
Israel denies blocking aid deliveries to Gaza. It blames failures by aid agencies for delays and accuses Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel is using hunger as a weapon in military offensives.
Currently, a ship carrying aid supplies is approaching Gaza for a pilot sea delivery. It is expected that the US military will then build a dock on the Gaza coast to distribute up to 2 million meals a day.
Palestinian and U.N. officials, while welcoming the aid ships, said sea deliveries were not a substitute for moving aid through land crossings.
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