{"id":16996,"date":"2024-03-15T12:46:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T12:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/15\/attack-kills-20-and-injures-155-at-gaza-food-aid-point-as-israel-denies-responsibility\/"},"modified":"2024-03-15T12:46:50","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T12:46:50","slug":"attack-kills-20-and-injures-155-at-gaza-food-aid-point-as-israel-denies-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/15\/attack-kills-20-and-injures-155-at-gaza-food-aid-point-as-israel-denies-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack kills 20 and injures 155 at Gaza food aid point, as Israel denies responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Gaza\u2019s health ministry says at least 20 people were killed and 155 wounded by Israeli shelling as they waited for desperately needed food on Thursday, a claim that Israel vehemently denied, as Palestinians increasingly face deadly violence in their search for aid. <\/p>\n

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a preliminary review found Israeli forces \u201cdid not open fire at the aid convoy in Kuwait Square,\u201d instead claiming that \u201carmed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy.\u201d <\/p>\n

The death toll is expected to rise as casualties are still being transferred to the hospital, according to Mohammad Ghrab, a doctor at the emergency unit at Al Shifa Hospital. Earlier, a witness on the scene said dozens of people had been killed in the latest deadly episode at a food aid location in Gaza. <\/p>\n

Graphic footage from the immediate aftermath of the scene filed by an eyewitness showed multiple bodies with traumatic injuries as well as pools of blood on a street strewn with rubble and dust. <\/p>\n

A man identifying himself as Ibrahim Al-Najar, who went to Al Shifa hospital after the incident, said: \u201cWe were sitting there, and there was nothing. Suddenly, they bombarded us with shells. There are a lot of martyrs and injuries. We were there to bring food for our children.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ghrab, the doctor, said that about an hour after the event they had received more than 60 injured people. \u201cMost of them are critical injuries, in the abdomen and the upper body. Until now, more than 15 injuries require urgent surgeries,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The health ministry said the incident was \u201ca result of the Israeli occupation forces targeting a gathering of citizens waiting for humanitarian aid to satisfy their thirst at the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMedical teams are unable to deal with the volume and type of injuries reaching hospitals in northern Gaza due to weak medical and human capabilities,\u201d the ministry said. <\/p>\n

The attack took place amid a backdrop of extreme hunger and poverty in the besieged enclave due to Israel\u2019s severe restrictions on aid entering Gaza, where more than a half a million people are on the brink of famine, according to UN agencies. <\/p>\n

The Kuwaiti Roundabout in Gaza City\u00a0has become known as an area where aid trucks distribute food, attracting crowds of people desperate for supplies. <\/p>\n

Israel denied being behind the attack on Friday, instead pointing blame at \u201carmed Palestinians.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a statement, the IDF said: \u201cA review of our operational systems and IDF forces on the ground found that no tank fire, air-strike or gunfire was carried out toward the Gazan civilians at the aid convoy. <\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy to the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAs aid trucks were entering, the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gazan civilians were run over by the trucks.\u201d <\/p>\n

The IDF claimed that \u201cHamas terrorists continue to harm Gazan civilians who are seeking food \u2013 and Hamas is blaming Israel for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gaza Civil Defense Spokesman Mahmoud Basal accused Israel of being behind the attack in a statement late Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli occupation forces are still practicing the policy of killing innocent citizens waiting for relief aid as a result of the famine occurring in the northern Gaza Strip,\u201d Basal said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Israel has for months\u00a0limited the flow of aid\u00a0into Gaza, however, some trucks have been allowed into the northern part of the strip where hunger is most acute. Amid a collapse of public authority in Gaza, the arrival of aid trucks has sparked chaos and disorder that often leaves thousands at risk of harm during the distribution. <\/p>\n

Attacks on civilians at aid stops<\/h2>\n

The incident at the Kuwaiti Roundabout followed earlier violence at the same site on Wednesday, where large crowds were waiting for a food distribution. <\/p>\n

At least seven people were killed and 86 others injured after Israeli troops opened fire, according to health official and eyewitness. <\/p>\n

Fathi Obaid, a doctor at Al Shifa\u2019s emergency department said that many of the people who were transferred to Al Shifa after that incident suffered bullet wounds and the hospital was struggling to treat all the patients because of a shortage in medicine and medical equipment. <\/p>\n

Nimr Abu Atta, a patient at Al Shifa who was shot in the abdomen, said\u00a0he had been hit with \u201cgunfire from an Israeli tank.\u201d <\/p>\n

Abu Atta said he went to the Kuwait Roundabout to pick up some flour for his children when he was hit. \u201cMy wife was killed two months ago in the war, and I am caring for my seven children,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Several deadly attacks by Israeli soldiers on crowds of civilians lining up for aid have been reported in recent weeks. <\/p>\n

The Gaza-based Government Media Office said Tuesday at least 400 people have been killed in several similar incident since the beginning of the war. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe targeting of those who are searching for aid to help satisfy their children\u2019s hunger has intensified, especially in northern Gaza,\u201d head of the media office, Salameh Maarouf said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) said Monday it had documented 14 such incidents at two entrances of Gaza City between mid-January and the end of February, and at least 11 additional incidents between 1 and 8 March, during which at least 28 Palestinians were reported killed. <\/p>\n

Last month, more than 100 people were killed in one of the worst single tragedies to occur during Israel\u2019s war with Hamas. Israeli troops opened fire near civilians gathering around food aid trucks in northern Gaza, and many of the victims were fatally run over by trucks in the ensuing panic, in what has become known locally as the \u201cFlour Massacre.\u201d <\/p>\n

Extreme hunger<\/h2>\n

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health,\u00a0and the remaining population has been forced from their homes as Israel\u2019s war against Hamas stretches into a sixth month. <\/p>\n

The latest conflict in Gaza was triggered by attacks on southern Israel by Hamas gunmen in which more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 200 people taken hostage. <\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s entire population of roughly 2.2 million people are facing \u201ccrisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity,\u201d according to the World Food Programme, which recently warned\u00a0child malnutrition in the enclave\u00a0is \u201chigher than anywhere in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

Food shortages\u00a0are reportedly the worst\u00a0in northern Gaza, where Israel concentrated its military offensive in the early days of the war. Child malnutrition in the region is about three times higher than in southern Gaza, according to the\u00a0World Health Organization (WHO). <\/p>\n

Israel insists there is \u201cno limit\u201d on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime on aid trucks has meant that only a tiny fraction of the amount of food and other supplies that used to enter Gaza daily before the war is getting in now. <\/p>\n

Jamie McGoldrick, a UN humanitarian coordinator who returned from a two-day trip to Gaza, warned Wednesday that hunger there has reached \u201ccatastrophic levels.\u201d Adele Khodr, regional director of the UNICEF office in the Middle East and North Africa, said \u201cpeople are hungry, exhausted and traumatized. Many are clinging to life.\u201d <\/p>\n

This story has been updated with further developments.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaza\u2019s health ministry says at least 20 people were killed and 155 wounded by Israeli shelling as they waited for desperately needed food on Thursday, a claim that Israel vehemently denied, as Palestinians increasingly face deadly violence in their search for aid. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a preliminary review found Israeli forces \u201cdid <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}