Netanyahu denies report alleging Israeli troops ordered to shoot Gaza aid-seekers
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz emphatically rejected a report within the left-leaning Israeli each day Haaretz on Friday, which claimed Israeli troopers had been ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching support websites inside Gaza. They known as the report’s findings “malicious falsehoods designed to defame” the navy.
Greater than 500 Palestinians have been killed and tons of extra wounded whereas searching for meals because the newly shaped Gaza Humanitarian Basis started distributing support within the territory a few month in the past, in accordance with Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened hearth at crowds on the roads heading towards the websites. Reacting to the Haaretz piece, Israel’s navy confirmed that it was investigating incidents through which civilians had been harmed whereas approaching the websites. It rejected the article’s allegations “of deliberate hearth towards civilians”.
The inspiration, which is backed by an American non-public contractor, has been distributing meals packing containers at 4 places, primarily within the far south of Gaza, for the previous month.
“GHF just isn’t conscious of those incidents, however these allegations are too grave to disregard, and we due to this fact name on Israel to analyze them and transparently publish the ends in a well timed method,” the group stated in a social media put up.
Palestinians looking for meals have incessantly encountered chaos and violence on their technique to and on arrival on the support websites. Tens of hundreds are determined for meals after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month siege on Gaza, blocking all meals, water and medication from coming into the territory pending the setup of the GHF websites.
The our bodies of eight individuals who died on Friday had come to Shifa Hospital from a GHF website in Netzarim, though it was not instantly clear how they died, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmyiha, the hospital’s director, advised The Related Press. A GHF spokesperson challenged the report, saying they didn’t know of any incidents at or close to their websites Friday.
Twenty different our bodies his hospital obtained Friday got here from airstrikes throughout northern Gaza, he stated.
1000’s of Palestinians stroll for hours to succeed in the hubs, transferring by way of Israeli navy zones the place witnesses say Israeli troops commonly open hearth with heavy barrages to manage the crowds. The Israeli navy says it has solely fired warning pictures.
Mohammad Fawzi, a displaced man from Rafah, advised the AP that he was solely in a position to get empty packing containers, not meals, from the help website within the Shakoush space in Rafah when he trekked there early Thursday morning.
“We had been shot at from 6 am up till 10 am simply to get support and just some folks had been in a position to obtain it. There are martyrs and injured folks. The state of affairs is troublesome,” he stated.
The group Docs With out Borders on Friday condemned the distribution system as “a slaughter masquerading as humanitarian support” and known as for it to be instantly shut down.
Greater than 6,000 folks have been killed and greater than 20,000 injured in Gaza because the ceasefire collapsed on March 18. Because the conflict started, greater than 56,000 folks have been killed and 132,000 injured, in accordance with the well being ministry.
The Gaza Well being Ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, however has stated that girls and youngsters make up greater than half the 56,000 lifeless. Israel says it solely targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding amongst civilians, as a result of they function in populated areas.
The Israel-Hamas conflict began following the Hamas-led assault in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when some 1,200 folks had been killed and round 250 taken hostages. About 50 of them nonetheless stay in captivity in Gaza.
The most recent deaths embrace six folks killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes on a bunch of residents close to the Martyrs Roundabout within the Bureij Camp within the central Gaza Strip, officers at Awda Hospital in Nuseirat stated Friday.
The United Nations chief in the meantime urged leaders to indicate “political braveness” and conform to a ceasefire just like the one cast between Israel and Iran.
Secretary-Basic Antnio Guterres additionally urged a return to the UN’s long-tested distribution system for support in Gaza, the place he stated Israeli navy operations have created “a humanitarian disaster of horrific proportions.”
“The seek for meals mustn’t ever be a dying sentence,” Guterres confused to UN reporters Friday.
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