The Hamas-run health ministry said early Friday that Israeli fire killed 14 people and wounded 150 as they waited to receive aid in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the ministry said citizens had gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north when they were fired upon by Israeli forces, revising upward an initial toll of 11 dead and 100 wounded.
Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, told AFP there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people waiting for a food truck.
An AFP journalist on the scene saw several bodies and people who had been shot.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the claim when contacted by AFP.
The United Nations has warned of famine in Gaza, which Israel has besieged since the start of the war on October 7 following Hamas’s unprecedented attack.
The humanitarian emergency has prompted some countries to diversify aid supply routes, including airdrops and by sea, as land access to Gaza via Jordan, Israel and Egypt remains limited far beyond what aid agencies say is required.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas operatives attacked Israel, resulting in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Operatives also seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, dozens of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes about 130 of the captives remain in Gaza and that 32 of them are dead.
Israel’s relentless retaliatory campaign of bombardment and ground operations in Gaza to destroy Hamas has killed at least 31,341 people, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
