Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis Deepens: 93 Killed While Seeking Food Aid

Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in the war-torn territory on Sunday, resulting in 93 deaths and dozens of injuries.

Eighty people were killed as aid trucks arrived in the north, while nine others were shot near an aid distribution point close to Rafah in the south, where numerous lives were lost just a day earlier.

Four more individuals were killed near another aid site in Khan Younis, also in the south, according to agency spokesman Mahmud Basal in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

The UN World Food Program reported that its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid encountered massive crowds of desperate civilians and came under gunfire near Gaza City shortly after crossing from Israel and clearing checkpoints.

Israel’s military disputed the reported death toll, stating that soldiers fired warning shots to address an immediate threat as thousands gathered near Gaza City.

Civilian casualties during aid distribution have become a recurring tragedy in Gaza. Local authorities attribute these deaths to Israeli fire, as crowds facing severe shortages of food and other essentials rush in large numbers to aid centers.

Earlier this month, the UN reported that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including those along aid convoy routes.

In Gaza City, 36-year-old Qasem Abu Khater told AFP he had rushed to obtain a bag of flour but instead encountered a desperate crowd of thousands, resulting in deadly overcrowding and chaos.

\”The tanks were firing shells indiscriminately at us, and Israeli snipers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest,\” he added.

\”Dozens of people died right before my eyes, and no one could help anyone.\” The WFP condemned the violence against civilians seeking aid as \”completely unacceptable.\”

Due to media restrictions in Gaza and limited access to many areas, AFP cannot independently verify the casualty figures and details provided by the agency and other sources.

The Israeli army claims it works to minimize harm to civilians and recently issued new instructions to its ground troops following lessons learned from similar incidents.

On Sunday, Israel revoked the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Israel, who has repeatedly criticized the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Whittall of spreading misinformation about the Gaza conflict in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The current war began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in 1,219 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, primarily civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

In a separate development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret to Pope Francis on Thursday after what he described as a stray munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.

Following the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the Pope condemned the \”barbarity\” of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory’s only Catholic church.

He added that the strike was part of ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza.

The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after making a rare visit to the devastated territory on Friday.

The majority of Gaza’s population of over two million has been displaced at least once during the war, with repeated evacuation orders issued across large parts of the coastal enclave.

On Sunday morning, the Israeli military instructed residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately due to imminent operations in the region.

Entire families were observed carrying their meager belongings on overcrowded donkey carts heading southward.

\”They dropped leaflets on us, and we have no idea where we’re going or if we’ll have shelter or anything,\” one man told AFP.

The UN OCHA stated on Sunday that the displacement order was another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip.

According to the aid agency, 87.8 percent of Gaza is now under displacement orders or within Israeli militarized zones, forcing 2.1 million civilians into a fragmented 12 percent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed.

The army’s latest announcement raised concerns among families of hostages taken since October 7, 2023, that the Israeli offensive could endanger their loved ones.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have spent the past two weeks in indirect negotiations regarding a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 remain in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military believes are deceased. (AFP)