GAZA CITY
\nGaza\u2019s civil defence agency said that Israeli fire killed 32 people and wounded more than 100 near two aid centres, in the latest deaths of Palestinians seeking food.
\nDeaths of people waiting for handouts in huge crowds near food points in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with the territory\u2019s authorities frequently blaming Israeli fire.
\nBut the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has replaced UN agencies as the main distributor of aid in the territory, has accused militant group Hamas of fomenting unrest and shooting at civilians.
\nCivil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the deaths happened near a site southwest of Khan Yunis and another centre northwest of Rafah, both in southern Gaza, attributing the fatalities to \u201cIsraeli gunfire\u201d.
\nOne witness said he headed to the Al-Tina area of Khan Yunis before dawn with five of his relatives to try to get food when \u201cIsraeli soldiers\u201d started shooting.
\n\u201cMy relatives and I were unable to get anything,\u201d Abdul Aziz Abed, 37, told AFP. \u201cEvery day I go there and all we get is bullets and exhaustion instead of food.\u201d
\nThree other witnesses also accused troops of opening fire.
\nIn response, the Israeli military said it \u201cidentified suspects who approached them during operational activity in the Rafah area, posing a threat to the troops\u201d.
\nSoldiers called for them to turn back and \u201cafter they did not comply, the troops fired warning shots\u201d, it said, adding that it was aware of the reports about casualties.
\n\u201cThe incident is under review. The shots were fired approximately one kilometre (more than half a mile) away from the aid distribution site at nighttime when it\u2019s not active,\u201d it said in a statement.
\nGHF said reports of deaths near its sites were \u201cfalse\u201d.
\n\u201cWe have repeatedly warned aid-seekers not to travel to our sites overnight and early morning hours,\u201d it wrote on X.
\nElsewhere, the civil defence agency reported that an Israeli strike on a house near Nuseirat, in central Gaza, killed 12 people.
\nMedia restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
\nThe war in Gaza, sparked by militant group Hamas\u2019s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory.
\nMost people have been displaced at least once by the fighting, and doctors and aid agencies say they were seeing the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of war, including more acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAZA CITY Gaza\u2019s civil defence agency said that Israeli fire killed 32 people and wounded more than 100 near two aid centres, in the latest deaths of Palestinians seeking food. Deaths of people waiting for handouts in huge crowds near food points in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with the territory\u2019s authorities frequently blaming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-491548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n