“All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites,” the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the “alarming frequency and scale” of such mass casualty incidents.
Israel’s military said it fired warning shots towards people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties. The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites.
Abdullah al-Haddad said he was 200 metres from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians.
“We were together, and they shot us at once,” he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital.
Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel’s military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started.
Loading
Sumaya al-Sha’er’s 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed, hospital officials said.
“He said to me, ‘Mum, you don’t have flour and today I’ll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I’ll go and get it,’” she said. “But he never came back home.”
Until then, she said, she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous.
Witnesses, health officials and United Nations officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading towards GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media. The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
The GHF denies there has been violence in or around its sites. But two of its contractors told Associated Press that their colleagues had fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scrambled for food, allegations the foundation denied.
Loading
In a separate effort, the UN and aid groups say they struggle to distribute humanitarian aid because of Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.
The first fuel – 150,000 litres – entered Gaza this week after 130 days, a joint statement by UN aid bodies said, calling it a small amount for “the backbone of survival in Gaza”. Fuel ran hospitals, water systems, transport and more, the statement said.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people and abducted 251 in their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war. Hamas still holds some 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Palestinian-American killed in the West Bank
Meanwhile, friends and relatives paid their respects a day after Palestinian-American Seifeddin Musalat and local friend Mohammed al-Shalabi were killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Musalat was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on his family’s land, his cousin Diana Halum said. The settlers then blocked paramedics from reaching him, she said.
Musalat, born in Florida, was visiting his family home. His family wants the US State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable. The State Department said it was aware of the reports of his death but had no comment out of respect for the family.
Loading
A witness speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid Israeli retaliation said the settlers descended on Palestinian lands and “started shooting at us, beating by sticks and throwing rocks”.
Israel’s military has said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area earlier on Friday, lightly wounding two people and setting off a larger confrontation.
Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence, which has spiked – along with Palestinian attacks and Israeli military raids – since the war in Gaza began.
