Israeli troops fire on Gaza civilians near aid centre, 36 dead

Demonstrators carry placards during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7, 2023 attacks by Palestinian militants, in front of the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on June 7 amid the ongoing war with the Palestinian militant movement Hamas. Photo / AFP

Gaza’s civil defence agency says Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”.

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah, and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension after similar deaths earlier this week.

Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7am (4am NZT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout”, where they had gathered to seek humanitarian aid from the distribution centre around 1km away.

AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early on Saturday (local time) told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.

Activist boat nears Gaza

The GHF said in a statement it had not distributed aid on Saturday (local time) because of “direct threats” from Hamas.

Later in the day, the Israeli army said an operation in Gaza City resulted in the killing of Asaad Abu Sharia, reportedly head of the Mujahideen Brigades.

The armed group is close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that Israel has also accused over deaths of hostages seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border.

The army said he had taken part in the bloody attack on Nir Oz when Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

It said he was “directly implicated” in the killings of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, a family who became a symbol of seized hostages for many in Israel.

The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade.

UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.

On Saturday (local time), the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.

The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said.

“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP, saying they expected to reach Gaza by Monday.

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before Hamas’ October 2023 attack and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce it.

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel’s naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

Evacuation order

The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

On Saturday (local time), the military issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, saying they had been used for rocket attacks.

The same dday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health, with a warning that he would not survive.

His mother, Einav Zangauker, speaking at a protest in Tel Aviv, said “I can no longer bear this nightmare. The angel of death, Netanyahu, continues to sacrifice the hostages”.

During the October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead.

– Agence France-Presse