Gaza’s health ministry said at least 70 people were killed and 280 injured in Israeli fires as a group of Palestinians waited for humanitarian aid in Gaza City.
The incident occurred at Naboosi Roundabout in the west of the city.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the matter.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces reported ground operations in northern Gaza and air strikes in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip.
The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said earlier on Thursday that the total number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive had risen to at least 30,035, with another 70,457 injured.
In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said all parties in Israel’s war with Hamas had committed war crimes.
“The time for peace, investigation and accountability is now – long past time,” Turk told the UN Human Rights Council.
Turk also warned of Israeli plans to launch an offensive in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, which is home to an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians, many of whom have fled elsewhere in search of safety.
Turk said an attack on Rafah “will take the nightmare endured by the people of Gaza to a new, dystopian dimension.”
Israeli officials mentioned evacuating civilians from Rafah, but they did not provide any details about where the Palestinians might go. Egypt, which borders Rafah, has said it will not open its borders. After a Hamas terror attack killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7, much of Gaza was leveled in a massive Israeli counteroffensive.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that those trying to distribute or receive humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip are facing life-threatening challenges.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that the dangers posed by the ongoing conflict have prompted the U.N. to repeatedly call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
“Yes, there are trucks entering Gaza from Israel. As we have described many times, the situation in Gaza makes it almost impossible to carry out our humanitarian work,” Dujarric said. “A violent conflict is taking place. Law and order has broken down. There is insufficient coordination in terms of security and deconfliction with Israel. We have listed all the challenges. This does not prevent us from working.”
Information for this report was obtained in part from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
