Sawt Falasteen - Gaza civil defence says 30 killed in food queue by Israeli fire

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel's offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel's "tactical pauses", people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "at least 30 martyrs were killed" as they waited for aid north of Gaza City, and 300 wounded.

Bassal said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd waiting for food.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.

Hours earlier, 14 Palestinians were killed in four other incidents, three near aid distribution sites, the civil defence agency said.

In two of the incidents, the Israeli army said it fired warning shots at people approaching the aid sites.

- Pauses not enough -

While the military did not comment on the incident at Zikim, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did say that Hamas militants were "stealing" food from the latest deliveries.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.

Gaza has been in the grip of war for almost 22 months and, according to a UN-mandated report, its two-million-plus inhabitants now face an unfolding famine.

The war was triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 60,138 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run government's health ministry.

- Food aid air-drops -

Amid an international outcry over Gaza's food crisis, Israel has observed a daytime pause in military operations since the weekend on secure routes and in built-up areas to boost aid delivery and distribution.

Air drops of food have also been staged by the Jordanian air force, the United Arab Emirates and Britain. France said it plans to start delivering 40 tonnes of aid from Friday.

OCHA said that the conditions for delivering aid were "far from sufficient" to meet the immense needs of its "desperate, hungry people".

Israel's pauses alone "do not allow for the continuous flow of supplies required to meet immense needs levels in Gaza", OCHA said in an update.

"For example, for UN drivers to access the Kerem Shalom crossing -- a fenced-off area -- Israeli authorities must approve the mission, provide a safe route through which to travel, provide multiple 'green lights' on movement, as well as a pause in bombing, and, ultimately, open the iron gates to allow them to enter."

"Desperate, hungry people" offload the small amounts of aid from the trucks that are able to exit the crossings, it added.

- Ceasefire talks halted -

Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff was to visit Israel on Thursday.

Witkoff has been involved in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal. But the discussions broke down last week when Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Doha.

Netanyahu announced the following day that Israel and the United States were "considering alternative options to bring our hostages home".

Witkoff "will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza", a US official told AFP.

Arab countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt called this week on Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war.

H.Darwish--SF-PST