The Palestinian Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens injured in gunfire and a stampede on Saturday while delivering aid to Gaza, where famine is looming.
AFP video showed a convoy of trucks speeding past burning ruins near a distribution point in the predawn darkness, as witnesses said people shouted and gunshots echoed, some of them warnings.
The Red Crescent said the incident occurred after thousands of people gathered to await the arrival of about 15 truckloads of flour and other food that were supposed to be distributed at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City in the north of the territory.
The roundabout has been the scene of several chaotic and deadly aid distribution incidents, including one on March 23 in which the Hamas government said Israeli artillery fire killed 21 people, a charge Israel denies.
The Red Crescent said three of the five people killed early Saturday were shot.
Witnesses told AFP that Gazans overseeing aid deliveries fired into the air, but Israeli forces in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks attacked people trying to collect food.
AFP contacted the Israeli military for comment.
On March 19, a United Nations-backed report warned that half of Gazans were experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, with famine expected to hit the northern part of the territory unless urgent intervention was taken.
The report estimates that 1.1 million people – half of the population, according to the United Nations – face catastrophic conditions.
The situation is particularly dire in northern Gaza, where the United Nations says there are about 300,000 people, and reports that famine there is “imminent… and is expected to occur between mid-March and May.”
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