Israeli gunfire and strikes kill 25 more aid seekers in Gaza

Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 25 people overnight into Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service, as ceasefire talks appear to have stalled and Gaza faces famine.

Gunfire killed the majority of people as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel, said staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Israel's army didn’t respond to a request for comments about the shootings.

Those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City. AP

The United Nations and experts say Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. And now children with no preexisting conditions have begun to starve to death.

While Israel’s army says it’s allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the number of trucks that can enter, the UN says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting.

The Hamas-run police had provided security for safe aid delivery, but it has been unable to operate after being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

Displaced Palestinians at the Nuseirat refugee camp haul food parcels and other items they managed to get from a GHF aid distribution point. AFP

During the shootings late on Friday, Sherif Abu Aisha said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from the aid trucks, but as they got close, they realised it was from Israel's tanks. That's when the army started firing on people, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle, a father of eight, was among those killed.
"We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed," he said.

Men carried the latest bodies through the rubble on Saturday. A small boy wailed over a corpse.

A man carries the body of Palestinian baby Zainab Abu Haleeb, who died due to malnutrition, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near the new aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office says.

The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food.

People mourn at a funeral of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid. Reuters

For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighbouring Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula.

Britain plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said on Saturday. The office did not give details.

But the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned on social media that airdrops are "expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians” and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion.

Associated Press