At least 32 Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs killed in firing

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured in firing by Israeli troops on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in southern Gaza on Saturday (July 19) morning, reported the Associated Press, citing witnesses and hospital officials. The majority of the victims were reported young men making their way towards the aid distribution hubs.

Most of the deaths happened in the Teina area, about two miles from a GHF aid distribution centre east of Khan Younis. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that many of the wounded that include children and teenagers are in a serious condition.

The GHF sites - four in total - are in military-controlled zones. And though, the Israeli army is not at the sites - it secures them from a distance - it said that warning shots were fired near Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah after calls to keep distance was ignored by a group.

The GHF denied any incident near its sites and said, “we have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours.”

Meanwhile, one of the witnesses of the firing said that he was walking toward the hub when troops fired warning shots, and then opened fire at a crowd that were mostly young men, reported AP.

Akram Aker, another witness, claimed that troops fired at them with machine guns mounted on tanks and drones between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

“They encircled us and started firing directly at us,” Aker said to AP and added, he saw many casualties on the ground.

Distribution at GHF sites often witness chaos. In videos released by GHF, crowds are usually seen running towards boxes of food stacked on the ground and grab whatever they can.

The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage

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