New Delhi, Jul 21: At least 67 people were killed in northern Gaza while waiting for aid deliveries, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as Israel faces growing criticism over the humanitarian toll of its military campaign, reports the BBC. The incident occurred near a 25-truck UN World Food Programme convoy, which reportedly came under fire shortly after entering the area, BBC reported. The Israeli military acknowledged firing warning shots to disperse what it described as an immediate threat but disputed the reported death toll.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency later updated the number of casualties from Israeli attacks across the enclave to 93, including 80 in northern Gaza. Additional deaths were reported near aid distribution sites in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south.
As hunger intensifies, health officials in Gaza have reported rising numbers of people arriving at medical facilities in critical condition due to starvation. At least 18 deaths from famine were recorded over 24 hours. The World Food Programme described the situation as catastrophic, with nearly one in three people going without food for days and tens of thousands of women and children in urgent need of nutritional support.
Hospitals, including Gaza City’s Shifa facility, remain overwhelmed as more bodies are brought in from aid queue shootings and airstrikes. Crowds at aid points are growing increasingly desperate, amid frequent gunfire incidents targeting civilians seeking food, many of them near facilities run by both the UN and the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Meanwhile, the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for parts of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an area previously untouched by ground offensives. Leaflets dropped over the city instructed residents and displaced families to move westward towards al-Mawasi. The move has prompted widespread panic, especially among relatives of Israeli hostages who are feared to be held in the area.
The military has conducted airstrikes in the vicinity but has not yet moved in with ground forces. Israeli sources have suggested that concerns over the presence of hostages have delayed a full incursion. Deir al-Balah is currently home to thousands of displaced people living in makeshift shelters. More than two million people across Gaza have been displaced since the conflict began in October 2023. The worsening humanitarian crisis has drawn international attention. On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called for an immediate end to hostilities, denouncing the ongoing violence and calling for restraint in the use of force. His comments followed a recent Israeli airstrike that hit Gaza’s only Catholic church.
