Palestinians desperately trying to access aid in Gaza have come under fire again, with 36 people killed and 207 injured on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Experts and humanitarian aid workers say Israel’s blockade and 20-month military campaign have pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.
At least 163 people have been killed and 1,495 wounded in a number of shootings near aid sites run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are in military zones that are off-limits to independent media.
The crisis has reached unprecedented levels of despair as people continue to go hungry across #Gaza.
🚨 Over 2.700 children under 5 diagnosed with acute malnutrition in late May
🏥 Only 1 medical point partially functional in North Gaza
⛽ Fuel stocks critically low
Humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/CqxghXJhyx— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 10, 2025
The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions at people who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
The foundation says there has been no violence in or around the distribution points themselves. But it has warned people to stay on designated access routes and it paused delivery last week while it held talks with the military on improving safety.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday there is “meaningful progress” on a possible ceasefire deal that would also return some of the 55 hostages still being held in Gaza, but said it was “too early to hope”.
Foreign minister Gideon Saar also mentioned on Tuesday that there was progress in ceasefire negotiations.
Mr Netanyahu was meeting with the Israeli negotiating team and the defence minister on Tuesday evening to discuss next steps.
In southern Gaza, at least eight people were killed while trying to obtain aid around Rafah, according to Nasser Hospital.
In northern Gaza, two men and a child were killed and at least 130 were wounded on Tuesday, according to Nader Garghoun, a spokesperson for the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. He said most were being treated for gunshot wounds.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire at around 2am (midnight BST), several hundred yards from the aid site in central Gaza. Crowds of Palestinians seeking desperately needed food often head to the sites hours before dawn, hoping to beat the crowds.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people it referred to as suspects. It said they had advanced toward its troops hundreds of yards from the aid site prior to its opening hours.
Additionally, three Palestinian medics were killed in an Israeli strike Tuesday in Gaza City, according to the health ministry.
The medics from the health ministry’s emergency service were responding to an Israeli attack on a house in Jaffa street in Gaza City when a second strike hit the building, the ministry said.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strike, but said over the past day the air force has hit dozens of targets belonging to Hamas’ military infrastructure, including rocket launchers.
The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a major Palestinian legal group for prisoners and detainees along with five other charitable entities across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, accusing them of supporting militant groups, including Hamas’s military wing, under the pretence of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organisation that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian group provides free legal services to Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody and monitors the conditions of their confinement.
The organisation also works with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and is a member of the World Organization Against Torture.
Other entities hit with sanctions Tuesday include the Gaza-based charity Al Weam Charitable Society and its leader; the Turkish charity Filistin Vakfi and its leader; El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work and its leader; The Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation Netherlands and two employees; and The Italy-based Associazione Benefica La Cupola d’Oro.
