Gaza civil defence says 25 killed by Israeli forces
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A civil defence spokesman said the toll included four Palestinians killed in an air strike on the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
PHOTO: AFP
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GAZA CITY – Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli operations killed 25 people on July 26 in the Palestinian territory devastated by more than 21 months of war.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the dead included nine people killed in three separate air strikes in Gaza City.
Eleven people were killed in four separate strikes near the southern city of Khan Yunis, while two were killed in a drone strike in Nuseirat refugee camp, he added.
Mr Bassal said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid in three separate incidents in northern, central and southern Gaza.
One of the three was killed “after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid” northwest of Gaza City, the agency said.
Eyewitnesses told AFP that several thousand people had gathered in the area to wait for aid.
One of them, Mr Abu Samir Hamoudeh, 42, said the Israeli military opened fire “while the people were waiting to approach the distribution point”, located near an Israeli military post in the Zikim area, north-west of Sudaniyah.
The Israeli military told AFP that its troops fired “warning shots to distance the crowd” after identifying an “immediate threat”.
Another man was killed by a drone strike near the southern city of Khan Younis, while one was killed by artillery fire in the Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza, the civil defence said.
When questioned by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the matter.
In a separate statement, the military said it was continuing its operations in Gaza, adding that it killed members of a “terrorist cell”, which it accused of planting an explosive device targeting soldiers.
It added that over the past day, the air force had “struck over 100 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip”.
Mr Bassal also told AFP that civil defence teams on July 26 recovered the bodies of 12 people in the area of the Morag Corridor north of Rafah following Israeli bombardment the previous night.
The recovery operation was conducted in coordination with UN humanitarian agency OCHA, he said, adding that the bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas
The Israeli campaign has killed 59,676 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hamas’ October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. AFP
