Israel kills over 30 starving Palestinians waiting for food near US group's aid distribution sites
The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
The GHF launched operations in late May with backing from the U.S. and Israel. The United Nations had condemned Israel's "weaponisation of food" against the Palestinians after a three-month-long blockade of humanitarian assistance, which was partially lifted only to replace the established aid distribution systems with the GHF. Rights groups and the UN had refused to cooperate with the GHF, slamming it as a "death trap" for Palestinians and accusing it of aiding Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called the GHF an "abomination" that has put Palestinians' lives at risk, while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the "weaponisation of food" in the territory.
Nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israeli attacks near aid distribution sites since the GHF started operations.
In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, visited a Christian Palestinian village that was recently attacked by Israeli settlers and harshly criticized the violence.
'Indiscriminate fire'
Most of Saturday's deaths occurred as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around three kilometers (2 miles) away from a GHF aid distribution center east of the city of Khan Younis.
Mahmoud Mokeimar, an eyewitness, said he was walking with masses of people — mostly young men — toward the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire toward the marching people.
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