GAZA CITY:
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 16 people were killed in Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory on Sunday, most of them while waiting for aid.
Besides, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israel’s offensive has left at least 55,207 people dead, majority of them civilians.
The first responders agency’s teams transported the bodies of 16 people killed by Israeli fire in various part of the Palestinian territory, spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
At least three people were killed and many injured when Israeli forces “targeted a gathering of hundreds of citizens near the aid distribution point” in central Gaza Sunday morning, Bassal said.
In the coastal territory’s north, Bassal said civil defence teams transported seven people killed on their way to get aid distributed from trucks in the area northwest of Gaza City.
In south Gaza, two people were killed and 50 were injured “when (Israeli) forces opened fire on citizens near an aid distribution point,” Bassal said.
Contacted by AFP, the army said it was “not aware of gunshots near Netzarim or Rafah”, and that it was looking into the events in northern Gaza.
Israeli restrictions on media in Gaza and the difficulties of access on the ground mean AFP is unable to independently verify the casualty tolls provided by the civil defence agency.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since the US- and Israel-backed organisation began operating in late May, according to the civil defence agency.
