Israeli Fire Strikes Crowd Waiting for Aid in Gaza, Killing at Least 20

Palestinians displaced by the Israel air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip take shelter near the border fence with Egypt in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Palestinians displaced by the Israel air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip take shelter near the border fence with Egypt in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
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Israeli Fire Strikes Crowd Waiting for Aid in Gaza, Killing at Least 20

Palestinians displaced by the Israel air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip take shelter near the border fence with Egypt in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Palestinians displaced by the Israel air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip take shelter near the border fence with Egypt in Rafah, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli fire struck a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid at a roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20 and wounding 150.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a strike the day before on a crowded shelter in Gaza rose to 12, with over 75 wounded, according to Thomas White, a senior official with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.

The Israeli military said it has “currently ruled out” that the strike was carried out by its aircraft or artillery but was still investigating. It says the building might have been hit by a Hamas rocket.
The fighting in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis has isolated its two main hospitals, stranding hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people inside. A third hospital was evacuated overnight, White said. Thousands of people rushed to escape farther south in recent days, crowding into shelters and tent camps near the border with Egypt.

A total of 25,900 Palestinians have been confirmed killed and 64,110 wounded in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since Oct.7, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.



US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
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US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

The United States' envoy to the Middle East said on Thursday that President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians, and the conversation about Gaza's future was being shifted towards how to create a better future for Palestinians.
Trump proposed on February 4 the US should take over Gaza, with Palestinians resettled in other places including Egypt and Jordan, a suggestion which caused an international outcry.
However, speaking at a Miami conference hosted by a non-profit, US envoy Steven Witkoff said that Trump's comments on Gaza were more about trying different solutions to those proposed over the previous 50 years, Reuters reported.
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has left much of Gaza destroyed and littered with unexploded ordnance, and it was impossible to see how people could return.
"It's going to take a lot of clean-up and imagination, and a great master plan, and that doesn't mean we're on an eviction plan, when the President talks about this," Steven Witkoff told the FII Institute event.
"It means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.
"For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects," he added.