AT least 73 Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach desperately needed aid in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
It was one of the deadliest days in over 21 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as civilians were targeted whilst trying to access food and medical relief.
Reports from AP say the highest death toll came in northern Gaza, where 67 people were killed near the Zikim crossing with Israel as aid trucks had just arrived.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 25 trucks carrying supplies for “starving communities” entered the area but were met by large crowds that came under gunfire.
The WFP condemned the violence as “completely unacceptable.”
Eyewitnesses accused the Israeli military of opening fire on the crowds.
Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour, told AP: “Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours.”
“I will never go back again,” he added. “Let us die of hunger, it’s better.”
Another survivor, Nafiz Al-Najjar, said tanks and drones targeted civilians “randomly,” and that he witnessed his cousin and others being shot dead.
Israel’s military claimed the crowd posed a threat and acknowledged some casualties, but dismissed the numbers reported by Palestinian officials as exaggerated.
Medical teams said more than 150 people were injured, many of them in critical condition.
Elsewhere, seven Palestinians were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis, including a five-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital.
The killings in northern Gaza did not take place near aid points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a US- and Israel-backed project.
However, health workers and witnesses say hundreds have been killed trying to access aid from that same network.
On the same day, Israel issued new evacuation orders in central Gaza, cutting off access between Deir al-Balah and the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.
The United Nations is seeking clarification on whether its facilities in the area are included in the order.
An unnamed UN official noted that in past cases, UN facilities had been spared, but the scale of the current evacuation zone – which stretches to the Mediterranean coast – will severely limit humanitarian access.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged people to flee to the Muwasi area – a desolate tent camp with no basic infrastructure, now overcrowded with displaced families.
The announcement came as ceasefire talks in Qatar failed to produce progress.
Pope Leo has since renewed calls for an end to the violence. At the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from a summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, he said: “I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
He also expressed his “deep sorrow” for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,” the Pope added.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military claimed it had taken control of more than 65% of Gaza.
More than 58,800 Palestinians have been killed since the genocide began.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are now facing full-scale famine, displacement, and relentless bombardment, with aid barely trickling in
