Fatalities as Israeli forces shell crowd waiting for aid in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Several Palestinians were killed and injured when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City on Thursday, according to witnesses.

Hundreds of Palestinians were waiting to receive aid near Dowar al-Nablusi, south of Gaza City when they came under Israeli fire, eyewitnesses said.

The Health Ministry has yet to give an exact death toll from the attack.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have since been killed and over 70,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.