Israeli strikes kill at least 29 Gazans awaiting aid, say Palestinian officials

At least 29 Palestinians were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said.

In the first incident, Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-ruled strip said eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution centre in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Later, at least 21 people were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, Gaza’s health ministry said.

In a statement, Israel’s military denied attacking aid centres, describing the reports as “false.”

“As the IDF assesses the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves, we urge the media to do the same and only rely on credible information,” the statement said.

The Gaza conflict has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million population. Chaotic scenes and deadly incidents have taken place during aid distributions as desperately hungry people scrambled for food.

On Feb. 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 deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.