Gaza City, June 1 (EFE).- Dozens people were killed and over 100 injured by gunfire near a humanitarian aid distribution point in southern Gaza on Sunday, according to local health authorities, amid conflicting claims from Israel, Hamas, and the aid group involved.
The Gazan Ministry of Health said at least 31 people lost their lives in the shooting near the aid center operated by the Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza (GHF) in southern Gaza.
The foundation—backed by Israel and the United States—denied the reports, calling the claims of deaths and injuries “false” and accusing Hamas, which governs the enclave, of spreading misinformation.
“We observe coordinated efforts every day to instigate false narratives and distort media coverage of our distribution point operations,” GHF said in a statement.
The Israeli army said it was not aware of “any injuries caused by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fire inside the GHF distribution point,” adding that the matter is under investigation.
According to the Health Ministry, the victims suffered single gunshot wounds to the head or chest.
In a separate statement, Hamas condemned what it described as “a horrible massacre” of civilians.
“We call on the United Nations to establish an independent international commission to investigate these systematic crimes against civilians, enter Gaza, and hold the perpetrators able as war criminals,” the group said.
Local sources said Israeli troops opened fire with tank shelling and gunfire after 4 am local time against civilians who had approached a distribution point in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood.
Palestinian news service Wafa reported the deaths of more than 30 people and the toll is expected to rise, the Gaza government said.
“Severe overcrowding is occurring in emergency, operating, and intensive care units due to the large number of injured,” the Ministry of Health warned in a statement detailing the casualty figures, including at least 30 in serious condition.
“Severe shortages of surgical, operating, and intensive care supplies have reached their worst levels. Casualties in operating, intensive care, and emergency departments are in urgent need of blood units and blood components, given the severe shortage in blood donations due to anemia and malnutrition,” it added.
The Gaza Civil Defense said its teams could not reach the attack site due to the extreme danger.
Earlier in the morning, the Gaza government denounced “a new massacre against hungry civilians who had gathered at the so-called ‘humanitarian aid’ distribution sites, which are supervised by an American-Israeli company and secured by the occupation army, within what are known as the ‘buffer zones’ in the city of Rafah.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established after Israel accused Hamas of stealing aid (which the group denies), and effectively bying the UN as the main aid supplier in the blockaded strip.
The death toll at the new distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has risen to at least 50, with more than 220 wounded in less than a week, according to figures from the Palestinian authorities.
Meanwhile, Al Wada Hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza, reported the death of one Gazan and the wounding of 18 others, including three children, near another aid point in the Netzarim area due to Israeli strikes on Sunday morning.
“This new crime, with this large number of daily victims, is further evidence of the occupation’s continued implementation of a systematic plan of genocide, through preemptive starvation and then mass killing at distribution points,” the government said following the Rafah incident.
It called on the United Nations and the Security Council to “assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities, open the official crossings immediately and without restrictions, and enable UN and international organizations to deliver aid free from the interference or supervision of the occupation.”
It also called for an urgent independent international investigation committee “to document these massacres, including the killings at aid distribution sites, and hold those responsible able before international courts.”
Since October 2023, at least 54,381 Palestinians have been killed, with over 124,381 others injured. Thousands are still missing under the rubble. EFE
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