{"id":276079,"date":"2025-07-20T00:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T00:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276079\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T00:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T00:37:09","slug":"at-least-32-palestinians-killed-in-gaza-as-idf-fires-on-crowds-seeking-food-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276079\/","title":{"rendered":"At least 32 Palestinians killed in Gaza as IDF fires on crowds seeking food | Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza<\/a>, according to witnesses and hospital officials.<\/p>\n

People on the scene described it as \u201ca massacre\u201d, and claimed Israel Defense Forces fired \u201cindiscriminately\u201d at the groups of Palestinians \u2013 reported to be mostly young men \u2013 who were making their way towards the hubs run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).<\/p>\n

Most of the deaths, which a civil defence agency spokesperson, Mahmud Bassal, attributed to \u201cIsraeli gunfire\u201d, occurred in the Teina area, about two miles from a GHF aid distribution centre east of Khan Younis.<\/p>\n

Medical sources told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that many of the wounded are in a serious condition, while witnesses at the scene said many of the dead and injured were children and teenagers.<\/p>\n

The Nasser hospital in Khan Younis received 25 bodies, as well as dozens of wounded people, while nine others were killed near a centre north-west of Rafah, the civil defence agency said.<\/p>\n

Dr Atef al-Hout, director of Nasser hospital, described the situation as \u201can unprecedented number of casualties in a very short time\u201d, warning that the actual death toll could be higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re unable to provide adequate medical treatment as we lack equipment, medicine and personnel,\u201d he told Haaretz.<\/p>\n

In a statement, GHF, which was set up to replace the traditional UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, said there were no incidents at or near its sites. It said the reported Israeli shootings occurred far from its sites and hours before they opened. \u201cWe have repeatedly warned aid seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it had fired \u201cwarning shots\u201d near Rafah after a group of suspects approached troops and ignored calls to keep their distance. It said it was investigating reports of casualties, but noted the incident occurred overnight when the distribution centre was closed.<\/p>\n

Mahmoud Mokeimar told Associated Press reporters he was walking with masses of people \u2013 mostly young men \u2013 towards the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire on the marching people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a massacre,\u201d he said. \u201cThe occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately.\u201d He said he managed to escape but saw at least three motionless bodies lying on the ground, and many other wounded people fleeing.<\/p>\n

Akram Aker said troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones. He said the shooting happened between 5am and 6am.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey encircled us and started firing directly at us,\u201d he told AP. He said he saw many casualties lying on the ground.<\/p>\n

Injured Palestinian children wait for treatment in Nasser hospital after coming under fire from the IDF in southern Gaza on Saturday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sana\u2019a al-Jaberi, a 55-year-old woman, said she saw many dead and wounded as she fled the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouted: \u2018food, food\u2019, but they didn\u2019t talk to us. They just opened fire,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Four other witnesses also accused Israeli troops of opening fire, according to the news agency AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started shooting at us and we lay down on the ground. Tanks and Jeeps came, soldiers got out of them and started shooting,\u201d said Tamer Abu Akar, 24.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the civil defence agency reported that an Israeli strike on a house near Nuseirat, in central Gaza, killed 12 people, the latest in a series of deadly bombardments.<\/p>\n

More than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and the entire population is at risk of famine<\/a>, according to food security experts, while distribution at the GHF sites has been described as \u201clethal chaos\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last Wednesday, 19 people were killed in a crush near a GHF hub and one person was stabbed. GHF blamed the incident on Hamas<\/a>, describing it as \u201ca calculated provocation, part of a pattern of targeted efforts by Hamas and its allies to dismantle our life-saving operations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser\u2019s nursing department, told AP that most of the people who died on Saturday were shot in the head and chest, and that some were placed in the already overwhelmed intensive care unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is difficult and tragic,\u201d he said, adding that the hospital desperately needed medical supplies to treat the daily flow of casualties.<\/p>\n

Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been discussing an interim truce in the Gaza war, which would see 10 surviving hostages and the bodies of 18 others returned to Israel in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinians.<\/p>\n

On Friday, President Donald Trump<\/a> said at a dinner that 10 hostages would \u201cvery shortly\u201d be released from Gaza, but provided no further details.<\/p>\n

Speaking to lawmakers at the White House, Trump \u2013 who has been predicting for weeks that a US-led ceasefire and hostage-release deal was imminent \u2013 said: \u201cWe got most of the hostages back. We\u2019re going to have another 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-276079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114882769360754975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}