At least 36 people were killed and 208 wounded when Israeli forces fired towards crowds near a food distribution centre in Gaza on Tuesday morning, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Footage supplied to Sky News shows people shouting and screaming as they flee explosions in the distance.
Dead and wounded people can be seen being carried away from the scene while thick smoke billows into the air.
The incident is the latest in a series of reports of Palestinians being killed by Israeli gunfire near one of the distribution centres operated by a new organisation which is permitted by the IDF to hand out aid in the territory.
One man seen in the footage says: “We want to live, we want to eat. We have children and wives. We want to live in our homes. Three years of war, bodies ripped apart, all this, for some flour.”
Humanitarian aid workers and experts have warned Israel’s blockade of Gaza and its military campaign has pushed the besieged enclave to the brink of famine.
Around 160 people have been killed in shootings near aid sites run by the new Israel and US-backed organisation, the health ministry has said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the sites, said there has been no violence in or around the distribution centres themselves.
However, it has warned people to stay on designated access routes and paused delivery last week while it held talks with Israel’s military on improving safety.
Israel’s military said in a statement its forces fired warning shots at suspects who were advancing and posed a threat to troops “despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone”.
It said it was aware of reports several people had been injured but its initial inquiry suggests the number “does not align with the information held” by the Israeli military.
“The warning shots were fired hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours and toward the suspects who posed a threat to the troops,” it said, adding that the details are under review.
The government media office of Hamas said: “In a new crime added to the bloody record of the ‘Israeli’ occupation, the number of victims of the ‘Israeli-American aid distribution centres’ since Tuesday morning rose to 36 martyrs and more than 208 injuries, bringing the total number of victims of the ‘Israeli-American aid distribution centres’ to 163 martyrs and 1,495 injuries, all of whom are starving civilians seeking a living under siege and starvation.”
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Sanctioning of ministers adds to Israel’s growing ostracisation over Gaza and West Bank
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Israeli government ministers sanctioned
It comes as the UK government sanctioned two Israeli government ministers due to their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian civilians”, the Foreign Office said.
The UK imposed sanctions on Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway.
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They are being sanctioned in their personal capacities and are now subject to a freeze on UK assets and director disqualifications, and banned from entering the country.
The sanctions were criticised by US secretary of state Marco Rubio who said on X: “These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war.”
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Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of ‘illegal act’
Earlier in the day Greta Thunberg accused Israel of committing “an illegal act” after the Gaza-bound aid boat she was on was seized by the country’s military and she was deported to France.
