A US - and Israeli-backed charity operating in Gaza accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of attacking aid workers en route to a distribution centre on Wednesday, saying at least five people were killed.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said a bus carrying its staff to a distribution site near Khan Younes in the south was "brutally attacked by Hamas" around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT).
"We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage," GHF said in a statement.
In an email to AFP, the group added that all five of the people killed were Palestinian aid workers for GHF.
"These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends who were risking their lives every day to help others," the group said in its statement condemning the attack.
The distribution of food and basic supplies in the besieged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory's deep hunger crisis.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach distribution points since late May, according to Gaza's civil defense.
It said Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid on Wednesday.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment about the incident.
“Died While Waiting”
The GHF, an officially private effort with opaque funding, began operating on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking international outcry and warnings of imminent famine.
During its first week of operations, the GHF said it distributed more than seven million meals' worth of food, but its operations were heavily criticized even before the string of deadly incidents near its sites.
The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.
The amount of aid being allowed back into the territory, meanwhile, has been described as only a trickle.
Gaza's medics have said hospitals were being inundated with people attacked while trying to obtain food.
Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat Camp said early Thursday that four people were killed and 100 wounded in an overnight Israeli drone attack on a gathering at an aid distribution site close to a key checkpoint along the road to northern Gaza.
At Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, the emergency room said it had started receiving dozens of victims who had been waiting for aid, including 200 in a single day.
"Many Gazans went to the Nabulsi and Netzarim areas to receive aid and were shot at and shelled with tanks," said Mutaz Harara, head of Al-Shifa's emergency department.
But with few medical supplies and no operating rooms, "many patients died while waiting for their turn," he said.
Convoys Through Egypt?
To combat the widespread shortages, two activist convoys are attempting to transport supplies to the Gaza border themselves.
The Soumoud convoy – meaning steadfastness in Arabic – left Tunis in buses and cars on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt.
The Global March to Gaza, which is coordinating with Soumoud, said it is organising a separate mobilisation starting in Cairo on Friday.
The plan entails participants marching through the heavily securitized Sinai Peninsula on foot and camping on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.
Israel's defense minister objected to the mobilization and said he expects Egyptian authorities "to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border".
Such actions "would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed," Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.
Egypt said that while it backs efforts to put "pressure on Israel" to lift its blockade on Gaza, any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval.
With international and domestic pressure on the Israeli government mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived the latest challenge to his right-wing coalition early Thursday.
AFP
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