Jerusalem.- At least 45 Palestinians died and hundreds were injured early Tuesday near a humanitarian aid distribution point near Jan Yunis (south of
Gaza), which puts the number of deaths in similar incidents at more than 400 since this distribution system began at the end of May, reported the Gazan Ministry of Health.
The victims were transferred to the southern Al-Nasser hospital, which, according to the health authorities of the enclave, controlled by the government of the militant group Hamas, is “severely congested” due to the massive arrival of dead and wounded.
The Israeli Army acknowledged this Tuesday that it has
“knowledge of reports about several people injured by shots from its troops after the approach of the crowd”, which, according to its version, gathered around a humanitarian aid truck stuck in the Jan Yunis area, in southern Gaza, near where its troops were located.
“The troops regret any harm to uninvolved people and are working to minimize it as much as possible, while maintaining the safety of our forces,” the Army said in a statement, in which it assured that it is investigating what happened.
Since the end of May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an initiative backed by Israel and the United States to distribute food in a limited way in designated areas, began operating in Gaza, repeated fatal incidents have been recorded near these points.
Therefore, UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations already describe this mechanism as “a death trap” for a starving civilian population and are calling on Israel to open the entry crossings to Gaza and allow the mass entry of aid.
Israeli forces, for their part, have confirmed on several occasions that they have fired “warning shots” at Gazans after they allegedly moved away from the established routes to reach the centers.
