Israel continues targeting aid seekers in Gaza: kills 4 on Sunday
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Deir Al-Balah: Israeli forces killed four aid seekers travelling on Sunday through a military zone south of Gaza City — an area regularly used by Palestinians trying to reach a food distribution point, a hospital and witnesses said, the Associated Press reported.
The deaths add to the growing toll of Palestinians killed while seeking food, as parts of the Gaza Strip plunge into famine and Israel's military ramps up activity in northern Gaza ahead of a planned offensive to seize its largest city.
Al-Awda Hospital and two eyewitnesses told The Associated Press that the four Palestinians were killed when troops opened fire on a crowd heading to a site run by the Israeli-backed American contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area. It occurred hundreds of meters (yards) away from the site.
The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The four deaths are the latest in areas where UN convoys have been overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds, and where people have been shot and killed while heading to sites run by the GHF.
More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,500 wounded while seeking aid at distribution points or along convoy routes used by the United Nations and other aid groups, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry said on Saturday that at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.
It said the number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281. The deaths include a child, bringing the death toll among children to 115 since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023. A total of 174 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, it added.
The health ministry does not say how many of those killed have been fighters or civilians, but says around half have been women and children.