Palestinian health authority says Israel kills 25 waiting on aid as war death toll exceeds 56,000

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza early Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian witnesses and hospitals said.

Responding to an Associated Press inquiry, the military said it was reviewing reports of casualties from Israeli fire after a group of people approached troops in an area adjacent to the east-west Netzarim corridor, which bisects Gaza.

The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on the Salah al-Din Road south of Wadi Gaza.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as people were advancing eastward to be close to the approaching trucks.

“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired at people, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.”

Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds first, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward. He described a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people were attempting to escape.

Parse.ly - related stories

Israel says Iran launched more missiles after ceasefire started. Iranian military denies that

 

Trump heads to the NATO summit on the heels of a possible Israel-Iran ceasefire

 

World shares rally after Trump announces what appears to be a shaky Israeli-Iran ceasefire

 

He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and many others wounded as he fled the site.

The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them were 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza, it said.

In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the same incident.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food, killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

This came as the Palestinian health ministry said Israel’s military operation in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 people since the start of the war following Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The ministry said 56,077 people have been killed since the war started on October 7, 2023. It says another 131,848 have been wounded. The dead include 5,759 who have been killed since Israel resumed fighting on March 18, shuttering a two-month ceasefire, it said.

The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half of the dead were women and children.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.

Hamas’s attack left around 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians, and another 251 hostages.

Most of the hostages were released by ceasefire agreements.