Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 12 people on Saturday, including eight who had gathered near aid distribution sites in the Palestinian territory suffering severe food shortages. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse that three people were killed by gunfire from Israeli forces while waiting to collect aid in the southern Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, Bassal said five people were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations.
The Israeli military told AFP it was "looking into" both incidents, which according to the civil defence agency occurred near distribution centres run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Its operations began at the end of May – when Israel eased a total aid blockade that lasted more than two months – but have been marred by chaotic scenes and neutrality concerns. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said on Saturday that 450 people had been killed and 3,466 others injured while seeking aid in near-daily incidents since late May. The Israeli blockade imposed in early March amid an impasse in truce negotiations had produced famine-like conditions across Gaza, according to rights groups.
Israel's military has pressed its operations across Gaza for more than 20 months since an unprecedented Hamas attack triggered the devastating war, and even as attention has shifted to the war with Iran since June 13.
Bassal told AFP that three people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City in the north, and one more in another strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis. Israeli forces also demolished more than 10 houses in Gaza City "by detonating them with explosives," he added.
Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas make it difficult to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities.