UN calls to investigate murders near Gaza Help Site

The UN Secretary -General has called for an independent investigation into the murder of Palestinians near the Gaza Aid Center on Sunday, against the background of controversial reports that the Israeli forces have opened fire.

Witnesses say they have been shot while waiting for food from the Rafa Center, run by the United States and supported by Israel Foundation for the Humanitarian Foundation Gaza (GHF).

The Red Cross said his hospital received 179 casualties, 21 of which were dead. The Hamas Civil Protection Agency set the death rate to 31.

On Sunday, the Israeli military denied their troops, fired at civilians near or within the site and said the reports of this effect were false.

GHF said the reports were “honest fabrications” and that evidence of an attack in or near its facility is yet to be seen.

Israel does not allow international news organizations, including the BBC, in GAZA, making the difficult conduct of what is happening in the territory.

UN Secretary -General Guterres said in a statement on Monday: “I am horrified by the Palestinians, killed and wounded while looking for help in Gaza yesterday.

“I call for an immediate and independent investigation of these events and the perpetrators to be responsible.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry replied by marking his “shame” comments in an X publication and criticizing him for not mentioning Hamas.

The Civil Defense Agency said 31 people were killed and 176 injured “after the Israeli shooter was directed to thousands of civilians near the American Rafa Aid Center” early Sunday morning.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Red Cross Hospital in Rafa received a “massive tributary of victims” from 179 cases, including women and children, at that time.

The majority has suffered firearms or shrapnel wounds, and 21 have been declared dead upon arrival, he said, adding that “all patients said they were trying to reach a place to distribute help.”

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said his teams at Nasar Hospital in Han Enis also treated people with serious injuries, some of whom are in critical condition.

This added that patients “reported that they were shot from all countries of Israeli drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and soldiers” and that brother of an employee was “killed while trying to collect help from the distribution center.”

A journalist at Rafa told the BBC that a crowd of Palestinians had gathered near the roundabout of Al-Alam in Rafa, near the GHF place when the Israeli tanks approached and opened fire.

A video posted online on Sunday morning appeared to show that the Palestinians are hidden in an open area of ​​a sandy terrain, while what sounds like an automatic shooting shooting. However, the BBC failed to check the location as there are not enough visible features.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released a statement on Sunday afternoon, saying that the initial investigation shows that his troops “did not shoot civilians while they were close or within the place of distribution of humanitarian aid and that the reports on this effect are false.”

Brig -spokesman Gen Efi Defrin has accused Hamas of “spreading rumors” and “trying grossly and forcibly stopping Gaza’s people from reaching these distribution centers.”

IDF also released a drone video that is said that armed men shoot civilians on their way to collect help, although the BBC is unable to check where or when it was filmed.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli military official informs reporters that the soldiers were acting to prevent a number of suspects from approaching the forces “about 1 km from the GHF site before opening.

“Warning shots were fired,” the employee said before insisting that he “had no connection between the incident in question and the false accusations against IDF.”

GHF said in a statement on Monday that the reports were “the most impressive in terms of outspoken fictions and misinformation submitted to the international media community.

“There were no injuries, casualties or incidents during our operations yesterday. The period. We will still see evidence that there was an attack in or near our facility.”

Israel’s US Ambassador Mike Hukabi has accused major news publications of “reckless and irresponsible reporting” on the matter.

“The video of drones and first -hand accounts have made it clear that there are no injuries, no casualties, no shooting, no chaos,” he said on Monday.

“The only source for these misleading, exaggerated and fully fabricated stories comes from Hamas sources that are designed to fulfill the flames of anti -Semitic hatred, which may contribute to violence against Jews in the United States,” he added.

Meanwhile, health officials and local media reported that the other three Palestinians had been killed by an Israeli fire near the same GHF center in the Rafa Tal al-sultan area.

A spokesman for the Red Cross told the Associated Press that his field hospital in Rafa had received 50 wounded people, most of all with firearms and shrapnel wounds, including two declared dead upon arrival while the Nasser hospital in nearby Han Eunice said she received a third body.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “warning shots had been fired at several suspects, which were directed to” troops “about 1 km from the site.

The military added that “he is aware of reports on the victims, and the details of the incident are being considered in detail.”

Also on Monday, civil protection reported that 14 people, including six children and three women, were killed in an Israeli hit on a house in the northern city of Jabalia. It is believed that more than 20 others have disappeared under the ruins of the destroyed building, the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF, but a statement said that last day, his plane hit dozens of goals in Gaza, including “military structures belonging to terrorist organizations”, underground tunnels and weapons stores.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, collapsing a two-month termination of fire with Hamas. It says the steps aim to put pressure on the armed group to release the 58 hostages who are still held in gas, at least 20 of which are thought to be alive.

On May 19, the Israeli military began an extended offensive, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would see that the troops “take control of all regions” of Gaza. The next day, he said that Israel would also temporarily alleviate the blockade and allow the “main” amount of food in gas.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were hostage.

Since then, at least 54,470 people have been killed in Gaza, including 4 201 since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the health ministry in the territory.