Israeli strikes kill 94 in Gaza, including 45 people waiting for aid

Israeli airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza late Wednesday and Thursday (local time), including 45 who were attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said.

Families wept over the bodies from a strike that hit a tent camp during the night as displaced people slept in southern Gaza. At least 13 members of a single family were killed, including at least six children under 12.

“My children, my children … my beloved,” wailed Intisar Abu Assi, sobbing over the bodies of her son and daughters and their young children. Another woman kissed the forehead of a dead little girl wrapped in a blanket on the floor of the morgue at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis.

In central Gaza, a boy stroked the face of his dead sister, 6-year-old Heba Abu Etiwi, in a morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital. The girl and another of her brothers were among eight people killed when a strike Wednesday evening hit near a stand selling falafel.

A separate strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people also killed 15 people.

The toll from strikes emerged as more Palestinians were killed in near-daily shootings while trying to obtain aid.

Five were killed on the roads leading to food-distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organisation backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population. Another 40 were killed while waiting for trucks carrying UN aid in several locations around Gaza, according to hospital officials.

Witnesses have said Israeli troops regularly unleash barrages on crowds of Palestinians trying to reach the GHF sites. Witnesses have also reported troops opening fire when crowds of people mass near military-run zones of Gaza, waiting for UN trucks to enter.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded since the food-distribution sites opened in May.

The Israeli military, whose forces are deployed on the roads leading to the sites, says it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops. Armed US contractors guard the sites.

Amnesty International issued a report saying Israel was continuing to “use starvation of civilians as a weapon of war… as part of its ongoing genocide”.

It said the GHF distribution system appeared intended only to “placate international concerns” even as Israel allows in only a small amount of food for the UN to distribute separately.

“By maintaining a deadly, dehumanising and ineffective militarised ‘aid’ scheme, Israeli authorities have turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians,” it said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry denounced the Amnesty report, saying the organisation has “joined forces with Hamas and fully adopted all of its propaganda lies”.

Israel has rejected allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza in the war with Hamas, and it is challenging the accusation filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice.

Amnesty accused Israel last year of committing genocide, saying it has sought to deliberately destroy Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.

Israel intends for GHF to replace the UN humanitarian network, which has delivered massive amounts of aid to Palestinians throughout the war. Israel contends that Hamas siphons off large amounts of aid from that system, a claim that the UN and aid groups deny. They have rejected GHF, saying it cannot deliver enough aid, endangers Palestinians and is being used by Israel to carry out its war goals.

Israel cut off all food and other supplies to Gaza for more 2 ½ months this year, driving its population toward famine, in what it said was a move to push Hamas to make concessions in negotiations and release hostages.

It eased the blockade in March. The Foreign Ministry and COGAT, the Israeli defence body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said Wednesday that Israel has facilitated the entry of over 3000 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip since May 19.

That amounts to around 28 trucks a day, a fraction of the hundreds of trucks a day aid workers say are needed.

In a statement, GHF rejected criticism of its operations and said it has delivered the equivalent of more than 52 million meals. GHF distributes boxes of food staples such as lentils and rice, saying one box holds the equivalent of more than 50 meals.

Witnesses have reported scenes of chaos at GHF sites as desperate crowds race to pick up food boxes, with some taking more than one while many others go empty-handed. Much of the food is sold in markets at astronomical prices.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Hamas’ response emphasised its demand that the truce lead to an end to the war.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas militants and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that fired toward Israel on Wednesday.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times.