Israel kills 32 Palestinians waiting for food at US-backed Gaza aid sites

Israel has killed at least 32 Palestinians waiting to get food at two aid distribution sites in Gaza, leaving more than 200 others injured.

Israeli tanks opened fire on thousands of civilians gathered at a distribution site in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday morning, killing at least 31 people, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Soon after, another person was killed in a shooting at a similar distribution point south of the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza City, it said in a statement on Telegram.

The aid is being distributed by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial group backed by Israel and the United States, which has completed a chaotic first week of operations in the enclave.

GHF executive director, US veteran Jake Woods, resigned before the distribution began, stating that “it is clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while … adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.

The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, accusing it of lacking neutrality and suggesting the group has been formed to enable Israel to achieve its stated military objective of taking over all of Gaza.

“Aid distribution has become a death trap,” the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement on Sunday.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces did not fire at civilians near or within the site, citing an initial inquiry.

“In recent hours, false reports have been spread, including serious allegations against the [Israeli military] regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip,” the army said.

“Findings from an initial inquiry indicate” that Israeli soldiers did not fire at civilians while they were “near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site”, it said, adding that “reports to this effect are false”.

The GHF had earlier told The Associated Press news agency that Israeli soldiers fired “warning shots” as Palestinians gathered to receive food. The group denied reports that dozens of people were killed, describing them as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos”.

Killed for seeking ‘one meal for their children’

However, Ibrahim Abu Saoud, who witnessed the attack on aid seekers in Rafah, told AP that Israeli forces opened fire on people as they moved towards the distribution point.

The 40-year-old said the crowd was about 300 metres (328 yards) away from the military. He said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who died at the scene.

“We weren’t able to help him,” Abu Saoud said.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Palestinians are being killed while trying to secure “one meal for their children”.

“This is why Palestinians have been going to these distribution points, despite the fact that they know that they are controversial. The distribution points are backed by the US and Israel, but they do not have any other option,” she said.

“Even the food parcels that were distributed to Palestinians are barely enough. We are talking about one kilo of flour, a couple of bags of pasta, a couple of cans of fava beans – and it’s not nutritious. It’s not enough for a family in Gaza nowadays.”

Condemning the attacks, the Government Media Office described the GHF distribution sites as “mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points”.

“We confirm to the entire world that what is happening is a systematic and malicious use of aid as a tool of war, employed to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed killing points, managed and monitored by the occupation army and funded and politically covered by … the US administration,” it said in a statement.

Speaking from Gaza City, Bassam Zaqout of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society said the current aid distribution mechanism had replaced 400 former distribution points with just four.

“I think there are different hidden agendas in this aid distribution mechanism,” he told Al Jazeera. “The mechanism does not cater to the needs of the people, such as the elderly and people with disabilities.”

Sunday’s killings capped a deadly first week for the project’s operations, coming on the back of two earlier shootings at two distribution points in the south – the first in Rafah, the second west of the city – which saw a total of nine Palestinians killed.

In Gaza, crucial aid is only trickling in after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, which brought more than two million of its starving residents to the brink of a famine.

Meanwhile, Hamas said on Sunday it was ready to “immediately” hold a fresh round of negotiations for a truce in Gaza after recent talks appeared to hit a dead end.

“The movement affirms its readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention,” Hamas said in a statement after mediators Qatar and Egypt said they would intensify their efforts for a truce in the war-battered Gaza Strip.

Defence Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said he had told the army “to continue forward in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations”.