Israeli fire kills 6 awaiting aid trucks

ISRAELI fire killed six Palestinians and wounded dozens as crowds of residents awaited aid trucks in Gaza City, Gaza health ministry officials said yesterday.

Palestinians were rushing to get aid supplies at the Kuwait Roundabout in northern Gaza City late on Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire, residents and health officials said.

The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million population and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents at aid distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.

On February 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims were trampled or run over.

In Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit an aid distribution centre yesterday. In Deir Al-Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments continued overnight on areas across the enclave including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

The Gaza health ministry said yesterday Israeli military strikes across Gaza Strip had killed 69 Palestinians and wounded 110 others in the past 24 hours. Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza. It has blamed failures by aid agencies for delays.