Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people in Gaza crowd trying to get food
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Medics expect the number of fatalities to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO - Israeli tanks fired into a crowd trying to get aid from lorries in the Gaza Strip on June 17, killing at least 51 people, according to medics, in one of the bloodiest incidents yet in mounting violence as desperate residents struggle for food.
Video shared on social media showed around a dozen mangled bodies lying in a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military acknowledged firing in the area and said it was looking into the incident.
Eyewitnesses interviewed by Reuters said Israeli tanks fired at least two shells at a crowd of thousands, who had gathered on the main eastern road through Khan Younis in the hope of getting food from aid lorries that use the route.
“All of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells,” said Mr Alaa, an eyewitness interviewed by Reuters at Nasser Hospital, where wounded victims lay sprawled on the floor and in corridors due to the lack of space.
“No one is looking at these people with mercy. The people are dying, they are being torn apart, to get food for their children. Look at these people – all these people are torn to get flour to feed their children.”
Medics said at least 51 people were killed and 200 wounded, with at least 20 of them in critical condition.
Casualties were being rushed to the hospital in civilian cars, rickshaws and donkey carts.
In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said: “Earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area.
“The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach. The details of the incident are under review. The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops.”
Medics said at least 14 other people were also killed in separate Israeli gunfire and air strikes elsewhere in the enclave, taking June 17’s death toll to at least 65.
The incident was the latest in near-daily mass deaths of Palestinians seeking aid in the past three weeks, since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on the territory it had imposed for nearly three months.
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
The United Nations rejects the system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules.
Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies.
The Gaza authorities say hundreds of people have been killed trying to reach the GHF’s sites, including 23 people killed by Israeli gunfire on June 16 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The GHF said in a press release late on June 16 that it had distributed more than three million meals at its four distribution sites without incident.
Eye on Iran
The Gaza war was triggered in October 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million and causing a hunger crisis.
Since last week, residents of Gaza have kept an eye on war between Israel and Iran, which began with Israel launching major strikes
Iran has long been a major supporter of Hamas.
Residents of the Gaza Strip have circulated images of wrecked buildings in Israel hit by Iranian missiles, some openly happy to see Israelis experiencing a measure of the fear of air strikes that Gazans have endured for 20 months.
“We live these scenes and pain daily. We are very happy that we saw the day when we saw rubble in Tel Aviv, and they are trying to get out from under the rubble and the houses that were destroyed on top of their residents,” said Gaza man Saad Saad.
Said another, Mr Taysseir Mohaissan: “The time has come for Iran to teach the Israeli occupation state a lesson.” REUTERS
