Deir al-Balah, June 16: At least 34 Palestinians were killed in new shootings on the roads leading to Israeli-and US-supported food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry. The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centres. Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire in an attempt to control crowds. The ministry says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centers, run by the private contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, opened three weeks ago.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another on route to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere. Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4 am at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food centre, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the crowd. People fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. “Fire was coming from everywhere,” said Jouda, who has repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over the past week. “It’s getting worse day by day.”
The Red Cross field hospital nearby received around 200 injured Monday, the highest single mass casualty event, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. Only a day earlier, it said, around 170 were brought to the facility, most of them wounded by gunshots while trying to reach the GHF centre. The Health Ministry toll made it the deadliest day around the food sites since June 2, when 31 people were killed. (AP)
