20 killed, 150 wounded as aid-seekers targeted
- At least 20 killed and 150 wounded as Israeli tanks fire shells and live rounds at people in northern Gaza City who lined up to receive much-needed humanitarian supplies, health officials say.
- UN says heavy fighting has “encircled” two hospitals in Khan Younis – Nasser and Al-Amal – leaving thousands of “terrified staff, patients and displaced people trapped inside”.
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Israel says it’s investigating deadly attack in Gaza City
Israel’s military says it is looking into the allegations that its forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid in northern Gaza City.
More than 170 people were wounded and killed in the attack, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israeli troops and tanks pushed into Gaza City shortly after the ground invasion began in October and have battled Palestinian fighters there for nearly two months.
The military has claimed it largely defeated Hamas in north but it still faces deadly attacks. Northern Gaza has been cut off from humanitarian aid, even as tens of thousands of people have remained there.
‘A new massacre’: Israeli forces attack aid-seekers
The spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry says an attack has been carried out on “hungry mouths” who queued for humanitarian relief in war-ravaged northern Gaza City.
“The Israeli occupation committed a new massacre against thousands of hungry mouths who were waiting for aid,” Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement on Telegram.
The attack occurred at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, killing at least 20 and wounding 150 others, he said.
The number of dead is likely to rise because dozens suffered serious injuries. The victims are being treated at al-Shifa Hospital, which is out of medical supplies and only has a few doctors working, al-Qudra said.
Talk of Gaza buffer zone ‘recognition of failure’ in Israel’s military goals: Barghouti
As we’ve mentioned earlier, there are reports the Israeli army has demolished hundreds of buildings near the Gaza fence to try to establish “a buffer zone” despite US opposition.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, says the real intention behind such a move is to diminish Gaza’s size.
If executed, he said, it could only be perceived as an act of “ethnic cleansing” while also signalling a recognition of failure of Israel’s military goals in Gaza.
Barghouti added that if the US was serious about its opposition to the buffer zone, it would tell Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza.
“The United States is a participant, unfortunately, in this war, and as long as they don’t support a ceasefire, they become the participant in the war crimes that are happening in Gaza,” he said.
UN refugee agency: Palestinians trapped amid intensified attacks in Khan Younis
The director of UNRWA, Thomas White, says that attacks on civilian sites in Khan Younis are “utterly unacceptable” and must stop immediately.
“As fighting intensifies around hospitals and shelters hosting the displaced, people are trapped inside and lifesaving operations are impeded,” he said.
White went on to say that the attack on the Khan Younis Training Centre on Wednesday, which hosted thousands of displaced people, resulted in 12 people killed and 75 others wounded – with more than a dozen in critical condition.
“The situation in Khan Younis underscores a consistent failure to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in carrying out attacks,” he said. “This is unacceptable and abhorrent and must stop.”
White underscored the necessity of taking every measure to protect civilians.
“I remind all parties that protection of hospitals, clinics, medical personnel and UN premises is explicitly enshrined within international law,” he added.
Fighting ‘threatens survival’ of 1.5 million people trapped in Gaza
Israeli forces’ siege of the main hospitals in Khan Younis has made it impossible for rescue crews to reach the wounded and dead.
At least 50 Palestinians were killed in the southern city over the past 24 hours, including two children in an Israeli air strike that hit a residential home, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says less than 20 percent of the narrow coastal enclave – 60sq km (23sq miles) – is now refuge to more than 1.5 million people in Gaza’s south “where the dramatic escalation of fighting threatens their survival”.
