Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip), July 19: Israeli troops opened fire on Saturday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by a US and Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The organisation launched operations in late May with backing from the US and Israel.

The two governments are seeking to replace the traditional UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, saying that Hamas militants siphon off supplies. The UN denies the allegation.

While the GHF says it has distributed millions of meals to hungry Palestinians, local health officials and witnesses say that hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli army fire as they try to reach the distribution hubs.

The army, which is not at the sites but secures them from a distance, says it only fires warning shots if crowds get too close to its forces.

The GHF, which employs private armed guards, says there have been no deadly shootings at its sites, though this week, 20 people were killed at one of its locations, most of them in a stampede.

The group accused Hamas agitators of causing a panic, but gave no evidence to back the claim.

The army and GHF did not immediately comment on Saturday’s violence.

Indiscriminate fire

Most of Saturday’s deaths occurred as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around three kilometres away from a GHF aid distribution centre east of the city of Khan Younis.

Mahmoud Mokeimar, an eyewitness, said he was walking with masses of people — mostly young men — toward the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire toward the marching people.

“It was a massacre … the occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately,” he said. He said he managed to flee but saw at least three motionless bodies lying on the ground, and many other wounded fleeing.

Akram Aker, another witness, said troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones. He said the shooting happened between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

“They encircled us and started firing directly at us,” he said. He said he saw many casualties lying on the ground.

Sanaa al-Jaberi, a 55-year-old woman, said she saw many dead and wounded as she fled the area.

“We shouted: food, food,’ but they didn’t talk to us. They just opened fire,” she said.

Monzer Fesifes, a Palestinian-Jordanian, said his 19-year-old son Hisham was among those killed in the Teina area.

“He went to bring food from the failed US, Zionist aid to feed us,” the father of six said, pleading for the Jordanian government to help evacuate them from the Palestinian enclave.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along with dozens wounded.

Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of metres north of another GHF hub in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the hospital said. The toll was also confirmed by the health ministry.

Dr. Mohamed Saker, the head of Nasser’s nursing department, said it received 70 wounded people. He told The Associated Press that most of the casualties were shot in their heads and chests, and that some were placed in the already overwhelmed intensive care unit.

“The situation is difficult and tragic,” he said, adding that the facility lacks badly needed medical supplies to treat the daily flow of casualties.

Humanitarian crisis

Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and the territory is teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.

Distribution at the GHF sites has often been chaotic. Boxes of food are left stacked on the ground inside the centres and, once opened, crowds charge in to grab whatever they can, according to witnesses and videos released by GHF itself.

In videos obtained recently by the AP from an American contractor working with GHF, contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.

Hamas triggered the ongoing 21-month war in Gaza when it stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.

An Israeli military offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million people and caused widespread destruction.

The ministry does not say how many militants are among the dead, though it says over half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but is seen by the UN and other international organisations as the most reliable source of data on war casualties.

Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar in recent weeks. But international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs in the talks.