ISRAELI forces and drones opened fire on hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza early on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people.
The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on the Salah al-Din Road south of Wadi Gaza.
Witnesses told the Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as people were advancing eastward to be close to the approaching trucks.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired at people, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded”.
Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds first, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward.
He described a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people were attempting to escape.
He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and many others wounded as he fled the site.
The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them were 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza, it said.
In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the same incident.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food, killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. The military claims it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
The deaths were the latest in Israel's brutal assault on Gaza which has so far killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.
Human rights agencies have widely condemned the new aid distribution system and have refused to take part.
Ahead of a briefing on Tuesday, the United Nations urged Israeli forces to "stop shooting at people trying to get food".
In a written statement, the UN human rights office strongly condemned the "weaponisation of food" in Gaza, warning that such actions amount to a war crime.
"The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime," the statement read.
"Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution."
