At least 25 people were killed early Tuesday in central Gaza after Israeli forces and drones allegedly opened fire on a crowd waiting for aid trucks, according to Palestinian witnesses and hospital reports.
The Israeli military has not yet issued a statement regarding the incident.
Palestinians at the Awda hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp, where the injured were taken, reported that the incident occurred on Salah al-Din Road, south of Wadi Gaza, as people were waiting for aid trucks.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces initiated gunfire as people moved east toward the expected arrival of the trucks.
“It was a massacre,” stated Ahmed Halawa, adding that tanks and drones fired upon the crowd, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.”
Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, described drones monitoring the crowds before tanks and drones commenced firing as people advanced eastward.
He recounted a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people attempted to escape the area.
Abu Shahada said he witnessed at least three individuals lying motionless on the ground and numerous others injured as he fled the scene.
The Awda hospital reported that 146 Palestinians were wounded, with 62 in critical condition and transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah reported receiving the bodies of six people killed in the same incident.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials claim that Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking food aid in recent weeks, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The military has stated that warning shots were fired at individuals who approached their forces in a suspicious manner.
These deaths are the latest casualties in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, which has reportedly claimed the lives of approximately 56,000 Palestinians, according to the strip’s health ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but indicates that over half of the fatalities were women and children.
Israel initiated its military campaign in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and abducted 251 hostages.
Most of the hostages have been released through ceasefire agreements.
