More than 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured on Sunday in southern Gaza near a humanitarian aid distribution site run by a US company, according to local health officials.
Witnesses said the Israeli military had opened fire as Palestinians gathered to collect food. The military denied it had fired towards civilians and the US company running the facility said it had distributed aid without incident.
Reuters could not independently verify what took place.
The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, wrote on X that international medics in Gaza had reported there were "mass casualties including scores of injured & killed among starving civilians due to gunshots".
A series of incidents have underscored the insecurity around aid delivery to Gaza, following the easing of an almost three-month Israeli blockade last month.
"There are martyrs and injuries. Many injuries. It is a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points. Enough,” paramedic Abu Tareq said at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis city.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said paramedics had recovered the bodies of 23 Palestinians and evacuated another 23 injured people from the aid collection site area in Rafah.
Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies had so far arrived at Nasser Hospital.
The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the aid distribution site in Rafah, denied anyone was killed or injured near its site and said that all of its distribution had taken place without incident. It accused Palestinian group Hamas of fabricating "fake reports".
The entity released undated footage, which it said showed that aid was distributed at one site without incident. Reuters could not independently verify the footage, which appeared to show dozens of people gathering around piles of boxes.
INITIAL INQUIRY
Israel's military said in a statement that findings from an initial inquiry indicated soldiers had not fired on civilians while they were near or within the aid distribution site.
GHF is a US-based entity backed by the US and Israeli governments that began providing aid in Gaza last month, bypassing traditional aid groups.
The group has been widely criticized by the international community, with UN officials saying its aid plans would only foment forced relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and more violence.
Residents and medics said Israeli soldiers fired from the ground at a crane nearby that overlooks the area, and a tank had opened fire at thousands of people who were en route to get aid from the site in Rafah. Reuters footage showed ambulance vehicles carrying injured people to Nasser Hospital.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office accused Israel of using aid as a weapon, "employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military".
Israel denies that people in Gaza are starving because of its actions, saying it is facilitating aid deliveries and pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
US President Donald Trump said last month that a lot of people in Gaza were "starving".
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza. Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
Reda Abu Jazar said her brother was killed as he waited to collect food near the Rafah aid distribution center. "Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us," she said, as Palestinian men gathered for funeral prayers.
UNRWA's Lazzarini, condemned the deaths, saying in a statement on X that "aid distribution has become a death trap". He said aid distribution should be "only through the United Nations, including UNRWA".
The Red Crescent also reported that 14 Palestinians were injured on Sunday near a separate site in central Gaza, also operated by GHF.
CEASEFIRE TALKS FALTER
Israel and Hamas meanwhile traded blame for the faltering of a new Arab and US mediation bid to secure a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group's response as "totally unacceptable".
Egypt and Qatar said they are continuing efforts to converge views and overcome disagreements to reach a ceasefire.
Dozens of Palestinians marched on Sunday at the funeral of a Gaza doctor, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who was critically injured in late May in an airstrike that killed all but one of his 10 children. Najjar died late on Saturday.
The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis that day, but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.
The military is looking into claims that "uninvolved civilians" were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.
Israel's campaign has devastated much of Gaza, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroying most buildings. Much of the population now lives in shelters in makeshift camps.
