At least 67 Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza while waiting for humanitarian aid, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following gunfire allegedly from Israeli forces.
The victims had gathered near a UN aid convoy, where severe hunger has drawn large crowds desperate for food.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed that its 25-truck convoy had entered Gaza from Israel and faced “massive crowds of starving civilians” before coming under fire.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied deliberately targeting civilians, claiming it fired only “warning shots” to prevent an “immediate threat”. The IDF also disputed the reported death toll.
As famine worsens across the enclave, the health ministry warned of widespread starvation, stating on Saturday that hundreds were “on the brink of death” due to extreme malnutrition. On Sunday alone, it recorded 18 deaths from starvation.
Gaza’s civil defence agency later reported 93 people killed across the territory that day, including 80 in northern Gaza, nine near an aid point in Rafah, and four in Khan Younis. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City struggled to cope with the influx of casualties. “The whole population is dying,” one woman outside the hospital told the BBC. “People are surviving on nothing but salt water.”
Eyewitness Qasem Abu Khater described scenes of chaos as tanks fired shells and snipers opened fire. “It was like being hunted,” he told AFP. “Dozens were killed in front of my eyes.”
The WFP condemned attacks on civilians seeking aid as “completely unacceptable”, warning that 90,000 women and children require urgent treatment for malnutrition, and one in three Gazans are going days without food.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens, the IDF issued new evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, which has not yet seen a ground invasion.
Leaflets dropped on Sunday called on residents to flee to the coastal al-Mawasi area, stoking panic among displaced civilians and families of Israeli hostages believed to be held there.
The war began after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks, which killed around 1,200 people and led to 251 hostage takings. According to the health ministry in Gaza, more than 58,895 people have been killed since the Israeli retaliation began.
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