Israel kills 79 people seeking aid in Gaza, Hamas officials say

Times

4 days ago

At least 79 Palestinians seeking aid have been killed in northern Gaza while waiting for United Nations food lorries, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people on Sunday to remove what it said was 'an immediate threat'.
It said initial findings suggested casualty figures were inflated and it 'certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks'.
A spokesman for the UN World Food Programme said: 'On the morning of 20 July, a 25-truck-WFP convoy carrying vital food assistance crossed the Zikim border crossing point destined for starving communities in northern Gaza.
'Shortly after being released from checkpoints to enter Gaza, our convoy encountered passive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire, with reports of fatalities and many more injured. WFP is working with authorities to gather more details about the incident.'
On Sunday Israel also ordered the evacuation of one of the only cities yet to be invaded in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defence Forces told Palestinians to leave Deir al-Balah, dropping leaflets on the city before an expected offensive.
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Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been corralled into al-Mawasi, a southern camp on the Mediterranean coast, and the IDF encouraged those remaining in Deir al-Balah to head south and join them as it prepares to invade.
However, relatives of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas questioned the offensive because it is suspected that some of the remaining captives could be held in the central Gazan city. Israel has so far been reluctant to enter Deir al-Balah for fear of risking their lives.
The families expressed fear that the offensive could provoke Hamas to kill their loved ones. Last year six hostages were killed as Israeli troops closed in on their hiding place in tunnels below Rafah.
'Can anyone promise us that this decision will not come at the cost of the loss of our loved ones?' the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said.
'Unfortunately, despite all the spin and false promises, many families have already learned firsthand the meaning of expanding the fighting in the shadow of negotiations and the absence of a clear war plan. One can only recall the horror of the murder of the six hostages in August last year.
'Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all the hostages.'
Negotiations to end the 21-month conflict have stalled as Hamas officials study maps of Gaza showing the areas that, it is proposed, would remain under Israeli control in the event of a truce and the release of hostages.
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Israel is understood to have proposed a one-kilometre buffer zone around the strip, rather than the three-kilometre corridor that was initially suggested. The IDF would withdraw from most of the central and southern parts of Gaza.
A two-month ceasefire earlier this year ended after anger in Israel at Hamas staging public handover ceremonies of hostages and the refusal of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to withdraw troops.