Israeli armed forces 51 Palestinians waiting for flower on Gaza Aid site, witnesses and rescuers say

Israeli troops have killed more than 51 Palestinians and wounded much more after opening the fire near an auxiliary distribution site in southern Gaza, say witnesses and rescuers.

The civil defense agency run by Hamas said that Israeli troops on crowds were fired near the help site in Khan Younis. Allegedly, more than 200 people were injured.

The Israeli army has told the BBC that it investigated the reports.

It is the newest and potential the deadliest, of the almost daily shootings that have recently taken place near the distribution sites in Gaza.

Almost all victims in Gaza in recent days have been linked to the delivery of help instead of Israeli strikes on Hamas goals.

Witnesses say that Israeli troops opened fire and shot an area near a cross to the east of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had gathered in the hope of getting flower from a World Food Program (WFP) site, which also includes a community kitchen in the neighborhood.

A local journalist and eyewitnesses said that Israeli drones fired two rockets, shortly thereafter followed by a scale of an Israeli tank that was between 400 and 500 meters away from the crowd. The explosions caused many victims.

The crowd had gathered near an important road to the city of Bani Sueila, an area that has seen weeks of current Israeli military operations.

Nasser Hospital, the most important functioning medical facility in the area, is overwhelmed by the number of victims. It is so overcrowded that the many injured people are on the floor while medical staff treat their injuries.

Video that shows the immediate aftermath of the incident and shared on social media is established by BBC Check to a location in Khan Younis. Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal from Gaza, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that at least 50 people were killed. “Israeli drones shot on the citizens. A few minutes later, Israeli tanks shot different grenades on the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and injured,” he said.

In a statement, the IDF said: “A meeting was identified in addition to an auxiliary pribution truck that got stuck in the Khan Younis area, and in the vicinity of IDF troops that are active in the area.”

It said that “it was aware of reports about a number of injured persons from IDF fire after the approach of the crowd” and the incident was assessed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had received reports about a mass incident.

“This is again the result of a different food distribution initiative,” said Thanos Gargavanis, that trauma surgeon and emergency officer.

“There is a constant correlation with the positions of the four announced food distribution places and the mass -victim incidents,” he added, and said that the trauma injuries were mostly of shot wounds in the last few days.

For weeks, medical staff has warned that the Nasser Hospital can be overwhelmed and is unable to continue working under pressure from several victims, lack of medical supplies and Israeli evacuation orders in the area.

In recent days, the hospital has to deal with an almost daily intake of victims through shooting incidents near the auxiliary distribution locations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – supported by Israel and the US – in the south of and Central Gaza.

In almost all those incidents, witnesses have said that Israeli troops opened fire, although there have also been reports that local armed armed men are shooting people.

The IDF’s answer has usually been to say that his troops warned people not to approach them – and then to shoot warning shots when what the IDF calls “suspects” acted in a way that was supposed to form a threat. The Israeli army has provided little or no detail.

Israel does not allow international news organizations, including the BBC in Gaza, making verifying what is happening.

The GHF has also responded to the shootings by saying that they should not be mentioned in connection with their activities, because the incidents take place from their sites.

But there is no doubt that thousands of Palestinians would not be collected in a desperate search for limited stocks of food in those areas if it was not the way in which the new distribution system was set up.

The IDF also told Palestinians not to go to the distribution sites between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am local time. But to reach the sites and to get the chance to get food, people have little option.

Gerified video from GHF sites show huge crowds who are hurry to try to get food packages without clear control of the organization. It has already closed its sites at least twice to try to improve security.

The other way to get help in Gaza – with about 100 trucks allowed by Israel a day – has also seen people more often shot down while they try to reach the stocks, whether it is distribution points or from the auxiliary voyage itself while it is traveling to them.

It is a sign of a demolition, both in safety in Gaza and in the auxiliary distribution system itself.

Hamas responded to the last incident by again describing the auxiliary centers as death.

Looting among a population that is desperate on scarce food supplies – with criminal gangs, militias and Hamas that also work for their own purposes – has made the situation even more dangerous.

Critics see the GHF as a plan of the Israeli government to move Palestinians to the south to smaller areas of Gaza. But Israel – who has long tried to remove the UN as the most important humanitarian provider for Palestinians – claims that the alternative system was needed to stop Hamas with Stelenhulp.

On Monday, the UN human rights chef Volker Turk said that Israel was arming food and called for a full investigation into the shootings.

The head of UNRWA – the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – Philippe Lazzarini has said that tragedies continue in Gaza as the attention is shifting elsewhere ‘.

Yet there seems to be no plan of Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or the international community to find a way to prevent the almost daily murder of Palestinians, while taking their lives in their hands to seek a lean food of food.

It is 20 months ago that Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the cross -border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were held hostage.

Since then, more than 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health.