UN food agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on a crowd seeking aid in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH Gaza Strip AP The U N food agency accused Israel of using tanks snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid in what the territory s Wellbeing Ministry noted was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over months of war The World Food Campaign in a message Sunday condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food The Robustness Ministry in Gaza stated at least people were killed in the affair The Israeli military has reported it fired warning shots to remove an immediate threat but has questioned the death toll communicated by the Palestinians The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by observers and others who also announced Israel opened fire on the crowd The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance as the war that has roiled the region shows no signs of ending Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks but there appears to be no breakthrough and it s not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt As the talks proceed the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than Palestinians according to Gaza s Vitality Ministry Its count doesn t distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children The ministry is part of the Hamas leadership but the U N and other international organizations see it as the the majority reliable source of information on casualties Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza WFP condemns violence at food distribution points In northern Gaza on Sunday the Fitness Ministry eyewitnesses and a U N official noted Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a -truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area The WFP report which announced the crowd surrounding its convoy came under fire from Israeli tanks snipers and other gunfire backs up those indicates The announcement did not specify a death toll saying only the episode resulted in the loss of countless lives After Sunday s occurrence a photographer cooperating with The Associated Press counted bodies at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and others in the courtyard of Sheikh Radwan clinic These people were just trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation it mentioned adding that the affair occurred despite assurances from Israeli government that aid delivery would improve Part of those assurances it reported was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes Shootings near humanitarian missions convoys and food distributions must stop without delay The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP alleges Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X Sunday that soldiers were reported do not engage do not shoot and shared a video of troops near a crowd of Palestinians gathering around a truck as one soldier yells repeatedly Do not shoot The Associated Press could not forthwith verify the video and it was not clear where it was filmed Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war and the competing states could not be independently verified Sunday s development comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished and seeking that aid has become perilous A U S - and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested specific aid delivery from traditional providers like the U N has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire The group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has stated that the majority of the communicated violence has not occurred at its sites Violence rages on in Gaza Gaza physical condition representatives revealed Monday at least people including two women and five children were killed in Israeli strikes since the previous night At least two people were killed Monday morning when crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks were shot at in the area of Netzarim corridor in central Gaza according to Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah director of Shifa Hospital where the dead were taken He commented Israeli forces had opened fire An Israeli strike overnight hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killing at least five people according to the Robustness Ministry The dead include two parents two of their children and a relative it declared Other strikes hit tents in the Muwasi area and a residential building in Gaza City according to strength functionaries The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates from populated areas Gaza s Robustness Ministry meanwhile reported Israeli forces detained Dr Marwan al-Hams acting director of the strip s field hospitals and the ministry s spokesman The Israeli military had no immediate comment Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct killing around people and taking others hostage Fifty remain in Gaza but fewer than half are thought to be alive Israel again struck rebels in Yemen The fighting in Gaza has triggered conflicts elsewhere in region including between Israel and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have fired missiles and drones at Israel in what they say is in solidarity with Palestinians The Israeli military mentioned it struck the Hodeidah port in Yemen on Monday morning saying that the Houthis were rebuilding the port infrastructure Israel explained the Houthis used the port to receive weapons from Iran and launch missiles towards Israel The Israeli military explained it targeted the parts of the port used by the Houthis and accused the Houthis of using civilian infrastructure for militant purposes Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that the targets included areas of the port that Israel had destroyed in previous strikes The Houthis will pay heavy prices for launching missiles towards the state of Israel Katz declared Israel last struck Hodeidah port two weeks ago Magdy disclosed from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem Follow AP s war coverage at https apnews com hub israel-hamas-war Source