The Japan Times - Gaza rescuers say 46 killed as UN slams US-backed aid system

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 150 wounded by Israeli fire near an aid point in central Gaza early Tuesday, and that another 25 were killed in a separate incident in south Gaza.

"Every day we face this scenario: martyrs, injuries, in unbearable numbers," paramedic Ziad Farhat told AFP at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

"Hospitals cannot accommodate the number of casualties arriving," he said.

The latest deaths came as Israel's opposition leader and the families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to widen a ceasefire with Iran to include the Palestinian territory.

Pressure also grew on the US- and Israeli-backed privately run aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May to replace United Nations agencies.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called the system an "abomination" while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the "weaponisation of food" in Gaza.

According to figures issued on Tuesday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 516 people have been killed and nearly 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire while seeking rations since late May.

The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to human rights groups.

The Israeli military said the reports of deaths near the Netzarim corridor were "under review."

- 'Tank shells' -

Gaza civil defence spokesman Bassal reported a first deadly shooting "with bullets and tank shells" near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza where thousands of Palestinians gather each night for rations from a nearby GHF distribution point.

The Israeli military later said that a crowd had been identified in an area "adjacent" to its troops.

Witness Ribhi Al-Qassas told AFP that troops had "opened fire randomly" at a crowd he estimated at 50,000 people.

The second incident took place in south Gaza about two kilometres from another GHF centre in Rafah governorate, Bassal said.

"Israeli forces targeted civilian gatherings near Al-Alam and Al-Shakoush areas with bullets and tank shells", he told AFP.

Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses in the Palestinian territory.

"The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime," UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in Geneva.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

In a statement on Saturday, GHF said it was "delivering aid at scale, securely and effectively", but it acknowledged it "cannot meet the full scale of need while large parts of Gaza remain closed".

GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points.

On Monday, more than a dozen human rights organisations called on GHF to cease its operations, warning of possible complicity in war crimes.

- Ceasefire calls -

After Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday after a 12-day war, Netayahu faced renewed calls to agree a ceasefire with Hamas after more than 20 months of war in Gaza.

"And now Gaza. It's time to finish it there too. Bring back the hostages, end the war," opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centre-right Yesh Atid party wrote on X.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel's war against Iran was "contributing to the successes in Gaza, but it will still take a bit more time".

The October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,077 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

M.Sugiyama--JT