Israeli forces fired again on Palestinians seeking humanitarian assistance from Gaza’s distribution sites, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30 people.
The shooting exploded on Monday at the same Israeli aid aid point in southern Gaza, according to health officials and witnesses.
“The Israeli military fired fire at civilians trying to get all sorts of food aid without warning of any kind,” reported Tareq Abu Azzoum of Al Jazeera from Deir El-Balah in central Gaza.
“This is a pattern that has been widely criticized by international aid organizations as people in desperate need are unable to receive humanitarian relief and strengthen the collapse of civil order.”
Witnesses say Israeli snipers and quadcopter drones routinely monitor aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by Israel and the United States.
The Red Cross scene hospital was injured around 50 people in the latest shooting, including two people who died on arrival, said Hisham Manna, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Most were hit by bullets and sh shotguns. The third body was taken to nearby Nasser Hospital in Khan Eunice.
Moataz Al-Feirani, 21, said he was shot in the leg while walking towards the food location with thousands of other people.
“We had nothing [the Israeli military] He told The Associated Press, adding that the surveillance drone was surrounded by his head. The shooting began at 5:30am (02:30 GMT) near the flag detour, he said.
The pattern of fatal violence around GHF aid distribution sites has sparked international outrage, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday calling for an independent investigation into the massive shootings of Palestinians.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians risk their lives for their food,” he said. “I want an immediate and independent investigation of these events and an assailant to be accountable.”
Israeli forces refused to target civilians, claiming that soldiers fired “warning shots” at individuals who “pose a threat.”
The GHF also denied the shooting, but doubts about its neutrality resigned before founding executive director Jake Wood, a former US Marine, began even after questioning the group’s “fairness” and “independence.”
Critics said the group serves as the cover of Israel’s wider campaign to depopulate Gaza in northern Gaza, in order to concentrate aid in the South while bypassing established international organizations.
After Israel partially lifted a complete siege that cut food, water, fuel and medicines to over two million people for more than two months, aid is still barely dripping down Gaza.
Thousands of children are at risk of dying from hunger-related causes, the United Nations has previously warned.
At least 51 people died in 24 hours
Elsewhere on the territory, Israeli air attacks continued to hammer residential areas.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense Agency, in Jabaria, in northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed 14 people in attacks on their homes. At least 20 people remained trapped under the tile rub.
Two more Palestinians were killed and several were injured in another attack at Deir El-Balah, but a drone attack at Khan Younis claimed yet another life.
Gaza’s health ministry reported that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed and 503 have been injured in territorial-wide Israeli attacks in the latest 24-hour reporting period alone.
Despite growing international condemnation, Israeli forces ordered the expulsion of more civilians from parts of Khan Yunis on Monday, warning them that they would “work with great force.”
With 2.3 million Gaza residents packed into patches of land on land in southern Gaza, near the Egyptian border, and new data from the Financial Times shows that around 80% of the strip are currently under Israeli military control or designated for forced evacuation.
Israel does not aim to permanently drive away Gaza’s population in order to openly promote its “voluntary immigration” program.
The Financial Times reported that Palestinians are being pushed into areas that resemble “deert wastelands with no running water, electricity, or even hospitals.”
Satellite images showed Israeli forces clearing up the land and installing military infrastructure in evacuation sites.
Analysts who have considered the recent dozens of forced evacuation orders said the trend has been accelerating since the collapse of the ceasefire in March.
“The Israeli government was very clear about what their plans were doing in Gaza,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera.
“It’s about ethnic cleansing.”
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