At least 31 people have been killed near an aid distribution centre in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry.
Earlier, a nearby hospital run by the Red Cross reported that at least 21 people had been killed. The hospital, which has been receiving bodies and the wounded, also said another 175 people had been injured.
Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub, a new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US.
However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike.
It is not yet clear if eyewitnesses and Hamas-affiliated media are giving different accounts of the same incident.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said “false reports have been spread” in recent hours.
The statement said: “[these include] serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip.
“Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.”
The IDF says it is working with the American Civil Organisation (GHF) and other international aid organisations to get aid to civilians.
Witnesses tell of shooting
The area where the reported shooting took place is controlled by Israeli forces.
Ibrahim Abu Saoud, an eyewitness, said Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution centre.
“There were many martyrs, including women,” the 40-year-old man said. “We were about 300 metres away from the military.”
Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub.
He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.
“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative.
Minister doesn’t confirm reported attack
In an interview on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs Sharren Haskel suggested reports of the attack could be “Hamas propaganda”.
Asked about the alleged attack near the aid hub, she said: “The IDF said it’s actually reviewing this issue right now… They didn’t have any information to give me before [this interview].
“But I have to say that during the last week, we have heard so much propaganda coming from Hamas about the humanitarian distribution point that I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s another case like that.”
She added: “We’ve just heard about this case from your media, that was literally two minutes before I came online to your show.”
Controversial new aid system
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operates as part of a controversial aid system which Israel and the US says is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance.
Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the UN denies it has occurred.
The foundation’s distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory.
Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials.
Aid distribution is a ‘death trap’
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said the Rafah incident shows aid distribution in Gaza “has become a death trap”.
In a post on X on Sunday, Mr Lazzarini pointed to “mass casualties, including scores of injured and killed among starving civilians due to gunshots this morning”, quoting international medics on the ground.
Under the Israeli-American plan, an aid distribution point had been placed “far south in Rafah”, forcing “thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army”.
It was “humiliating”, he said, as he called for the delivery and distribution of aid to be “at scale and safe”, something that in Gaza “can be done only through the United Nations, including UNRWA”.
The agency was banned by Israel from operating in Occupied East Jerusalem and Israel in January over alleged links to Hamas in Gaza, which the organisation denies.
Israel must “lift the siege and allow the UN safe + unhindered access” to deliver and distribute aid, he said, adding it was “the only way to avert mass starvation, including among one million children,” Mr Lazzarini said.
Read more:
Israel confirms Hamas chief killed
Last hospital in northern Gaza out of service
Calls for UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
GHF says aid distributed ‘without incident’
The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
Following Sunday’s allegations, the foundation said: “All aid was distributed today without incident. No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier.
“We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”
In an earlier statement, the organisation said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid on Sunday. It dismissed what it referred to as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos”.
Meanwhile, the UN’s aid system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month.
Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians.
Experts have warned that the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory, displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.
