Israeli attacks have killed at least 78 people in the Gaza Strip since dawn, including 14 Palestinians who were waiting near aid distribution centres, medical sources told Al Jazeera, even as United States President Donald Trump said “great progress” was being made to bring an end to the war.
Sources at al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least nine Palestinians were killed and several others injured by Israeli fire early on Wednesday while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Junction in central Gaza.
The deaths are the latest in a wave of violence near aid distribution points established late last month by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which critics have slammed as “human slaughterhouses” and “death traps”.
The GHF has come under fierce criticism from aid agencies and the United Nations, which says the group is not able to meet the population’s needs and turns food into a weapon for Israel to carry out its military operations.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said aid distribution centres run by GHF are typically established very close to where Israeli forces are stationed, with their tanks, armoured vehicles and surrounding snipers.
“So when large crowds gather, they are vulnerable to Israeli fire,” he said.
“Disturbingly, people are given just 20-minute windows at the aid centres to get their hands on whatever is available, such as food parcels. Once that 20-minute period ends, shooting often starts. That is one of the reasons we’re seeing large numbers of people dying at these centres,” he added.
There is growing pressure on the GHF, which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May, to look into the attacks. But the organisation has denied responsibility.
Israel has said previous shootings near GHF aid sites have been provoked by the approach of “suspects” towards soldiers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, in the meantime, has said that the health and humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave have reached catastrophic levels due to the punishing Israeli blockade preventing urgent medical supplies reaching those in desperate need.
The remaining hospitals operating do not have much more time to continue functioning, given the severe crises they face, it added. Hospitals are overwhelmed by overcrowding of the injured beyond capacity, especially in inpatient wards and intensive care units.
Deir el-Balah home hit ‘without warning’
In addition to the killings near aid distribution points, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud said five people were killed in the bombing of a home in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“Five family members were killed instantly by a bomb dropped there. Three other family members were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp,” he said.
Ramzi Khaled, a Gaza City resident who was close to a building sheltering displaced people when Israeli forces attacked it overnight told the Reuters news agency: “Suddenly, without any previous warning, people who are staying and living in a shelter that is al-Shawwa [fuel] station … Without any previous warning, the place was hit.”
“The ceiling was toppled to the ground. They are all in pieces. Approximately 12 people [were] present in this building; they are all in pieces. We retrieved what we could, three people in pieces, and here we are trying to retrieve some, a martyr and the rest who are under the rubble,” he added.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 56,077 people and wounded 131,848, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli soldiers killed
As Israel continues with its assault, its military said seven soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza on Tuesday.
The military released the names of six of them, but withheld one as the seventh soldier’s family was yet to be notified of his death.
Those killed were aged between 19 and 21, according to the military. They were all members of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion.
An eighth soldier from the same unit was severely wounded and was medically evacuated to Israel, the military said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “a very difficult day for the people of Israel”.
Trump notes ‘great progress’
As the fighting in Gaza continues, there have been signs that diplomatic efforts to end the war are gaining momentum.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said on Tuesday that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas could begin in the next two days.
A senior Hamas official told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that talks had “intensified in recent hours” with mediator countries.
“Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours,” Taher al-Nunu said, adding that the group had “not yet received any new proposals” to bring an end to the war now in its 21st month.
Trump, who is currently in The Hague for a NATO summit, also told reporters that “great progress” was being made to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
“I think great progress is being made on Gaza, I think because of this attack that we made,” said Trump, suggesting the US strikes on Iran could have a positive effect on the Middle East, adding that his special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, had told him “Gaza is very close” to a peace deal.
Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House in London, told Al Jazeera that many Israelis are also questioning the wisdom of continuing the war in Gaza.
“Trump is more popular in Israel right now than Netanyahu … and especially on the Iran issue,” he said, referring to the US president’s involvement in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
He noted that Israelis want the remaining captives in Gaza released and are holding on to hope that Trump can achieve that faster than Netanyahu.
“They know that Netanyahu is … trying to continue the war in Gaza to maintain his coalition,” he said.
“Trump has a different agenda that might actually, in this case, match what Israelis want to see.”
