Six killed by Israeli shooting near Gaza help site, say Hamas officials

Six Palestinians were killed and several others injured by Israeli firing at the last deadly incident close to the South Gaza aid center, said the Hamas Civil Protection Agency.

People had gathered to collect food supplies on Saturday morning when the shooting began, a spokesman for the agency said. Reports citing an eyewitness said that the Israelis had discovered fire when people were trying to move to the site.

The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots of suspects that approach them threateningly.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of wounded are trying to reach the distribution center this week.

Supported by the US and the Israeli Humanitarian Gaza Foundation (GHF), which manages the center, says it has stopped its operations to deal with overpopulation and improvement of safety.

But people gather almost every day at a roundabout on the edge of an Israeli war zone they have to go through to get to the place of help.

In a statement, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said they had told Gazans that the area was an active battle zone during the night.

GHF said it failed to distribute food on Saturday because of the direct threats of Hamas – something that the group denied.

Whatever the case, the new incident will almost certainly intensify international criticism of the new distribution model.

The organization of the United Nations insists that it puts the Palestinians in danger and does not provide enough food and medicines to cope with the Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bazal said at least 15 people were also killed by Israeli air strikes in a residential home in Gaza, with reports that some of the victims remain trapped in the rubble.

The Israeli army said the strikes had eliminated the head of the Palestinian belligerent group known as the Mujahiden Brigades.

The Israelis accused the group of murder and abduction of some of the victims of Hamas -led attacks on October 7, including Thai citizen named Natapong Pinta.

His body was restored in the area of ​​Rafa in South Gaza in a special operation on Friday.

Israel has recently started to allow limited aid in gas after a quarterly blockade, giving priority to the GHF distribution.

But the foundation is sunk into a dispute.

Medics and local health authorities report that more than 60 Palestinians were killed by shooting for three days shortly after they started working.

Numerous witnesses blame Israeli soldiers for killings.

The Israeli military said they had fired warning shots during the first two days and fired close to the suspects in the Palestinian suspects, advancing to their positions in the third, adding that it was investigating the incidents.

The distribution center is one of the four operated in Gaza by GHF.

It is part of a new system of help – widely convicted by humanitarian groups – aimed at circumventing the UN, which Israel has accused of not preventing Hamas from deflection to his fighters.

The UN denied these allegations, stating that it could take into account all the assistance it provides and that the GHF system was inoperative and unethical.

It has been almost 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to a cross -border attack led by Hamas, with about 1,200 people killed and 251 others taken hostage.

At least 54 677 people were killed in Gaza during the war, according to the health ministry in the territory.