With the world's eyes on the escalating Israel-Iran conflict, the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday killed at least dozens of people waiting for food trucks in the Gaza Strip, yet another IDF massacre of starving Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid.
Eyewitnesses told journalists that while Palestinians were gathered on a route used by humanitarian assistance trucks in Khan Younis, Israeli forces conducted an airstrike on a nearby home and then targeted the crowd with gun and tank fire.
The Gaza Health Ministry and Nasser Hospital initially confirmed that more than 50 people were dead and over 200 others were wounded. Al Jazeera later reported that the ministry said the death toll had risen beyond 70.
People in the crowd were "blown to pieces, body parts were scattered all over the place," witness Saeed Abu Lebda told the outlet. "The number of victims is way more than those brought to the hospital. But no one could reach them to provide help."
At Nasser Hospital, a witness named Alaa recalled to Reuters that "all of a sudden, they let us move forward and made everyone gather, and then shells started falling, tank shells."
"No one is looking at these people with mercy," Alaa added. "The people are dying, they are being torn apart, to get food for their children. Look at these people, all these people are torn to get flour to feed their children."
As The Associated Press reported:
Yousef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. "It was a massacre," he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area.
Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. "I survived by a miracle," he said.
"A witness who spoke with Haaretz said that the Palestinians were hit in an area that the army considers an active combat zone, and they were not in the vicinity of an established distribution center nearby," according to the Israeli newspaper.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that "earlier today, a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area."
"The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd's approach. The details of the incident are under review," the Israeli military continued. "The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops."
The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the Israeli assault on the Palestinian enclave had killed at least 55,432 people, with thousands more missing in rubble and presumed dead.
Over the past 20 months, the IDF has repeatedly slaughtered Palestinians trying to access food assistance, including at hubs recently set up by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) following an Israeli blockade on aid.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a lengthy Tuesday statement that GHF "is directly responsible for the escalating Israeli crimes against starved Palestinian civilians near aid distribution points in central and southern Gaza."
"The foundation's operational model involves luring civilians to specific locations coordinated with the Israeli army, where they are subjected to killing, injury, and cruel and degrading treatment," Euro-Med Monitor said. "These points have effectively become death traps used as tools in Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinian population for over 20 months."
The monitor called for independent international investigations into the Tuesday killings and GHF's role "in facilitating and executing serious crimes committed against Palestinian civilians," as well as a halt on all financial or logistical support to the foundation, criminal probes against all individuals affiliated with it, and civil lawsuits for implicated entities and individuals.
"Euro-Med Monitor also calls on all states, individually and collectively, to uphold their legal obligations and take urgent action to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza in all its forms," the group added. "Finally, Euro-Med Monitor urges the international community to impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel in response to its systematic and grave violations of international law."
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