Cairo:
Israeli fire killed six Palestinians and injured dozens of others as crowds of residents waited for aid trucks in Gaza City, Gaza Health Ministry officials said Thursday.
Palestinians rushed to get aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in northern Gaza City late Wednesday night when Israeli forces opened fire, residents and health officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million residents and has seen chaotic scenes and deadly incidents in the distribution of aid as desperately hungry people search for food.
On February 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the crowds that surrounded the aid trucks, saying the victims had been trampled or run over.
In Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, an Israeli rocket hit a house on Thursday, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli air and ground bombardments continued overnight on areas in the enclave, including Rafah in the south, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering.
The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel then launched an air, naval and ground attack that killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say.
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 69 Palestinians and injured 110 others in the past 24 hours.
As the war enters its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – a quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and that global pressure has increased on Israel to grant greater access to the enclave .
Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries to Gaza. It has blamed the failure of aid agencies for delays and accused Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel is using hunger as a weapon in its military offensive.
A ship carrying aid is currently approaching Gaza as part of a maritime delivery pilot, which is expected to be followed by a US military effort to build a port on Gaza's coast, serving up to two million meals a day can be distributed.
While welcoming aid ships, Palestinian and U.N. officials say maritime deliveries are no substitute for sending aid through land crossings.
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