At least 93 people have been killed while trying to access food across multiple locations in Gaza on Sunday in one of the deadliest days of the ongoing war for those seeking aid.
According to the Associated Press, at least 79 people were killed trying to access one of 25 trucks filled with aid from the UN’s World Food Programme at the Zikim crossing. An anonymous UN official claimed that Israeli forces opened fire of people who were trying to retrieve food from the aid trucks.
However, Israel’s military released a statement claiming that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) “fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them”. The IDF have also consistently dismissed figures from Gaza’s health ministry as Hamas propaganda.
In a statement to NPR, the World Food Programme called for the protection of those seeking aid.
“WFP reiterates that any violence involving civilians seeking humanitarian aid is completely unacceptable. We continue to call for the protection of all civilians and aid workers delivering life-saving assistance.”
The ABC reported that nine others were shot at another aid point near Rafah in the south, with four others killed close to another aid site near Khan Yunis. Meanwhile, 150 people have reportedly been injured in northern Gaza.
Fares Afaneh, head of emergency and ambulance services in northern Gaza told the ABC that ambulances have been arriving consistently with multiple wounded people in need of help.
“Each ambulance that arrives at the Hamad hospital in the area of the sea of Northern Gaza, has five to 10 wounded, most of them seriously wounded as a result of the shelling from the artillery and airplanes,” he said.
“There is a real massacre against these unarmed civilians committed by the Israeli occupation forces. This massacre has to end, this killing of civilians of our Palestinian people.”
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