At least 93 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, 20 July, after Israeli forces opened fire on civilian crowds gathered near humanitarian aid trucks across the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
The attacks took place in both northern and southern parts of the enclave. Around 80 people were killed near Gaza City as aid trucks arrived, while another 13 were reported killed near aid distribution points in Rafah and Khan Younis.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said its 25-truck convoy, carrying urgently needed food, came under fire shortly after crossing the Israeli border.
“As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers, and other gunfire,” the agency stated.
“We are deeply concerned and saddened by this tragic incident, which resulted in the loss of countless lives and left many more with life-threatening injuries. These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” it added.
On the same day on 20 July, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called for the immediate and unhindered entry of humanitarian, medical, and relief aid into Gaza, warning that famine conditions were worsening across the territory.
During a joint press conference with Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Abdelatty described the Israeli military operations in Gaza and the West Bank as “blatant and unacceptable,” adding that the displacement of Palestinians from their land is a red line.
The minister also reaffirmed Egypt’s commitment to a two-state solution and reviewed Egypt’s plans to host an international conference for early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza following a ceasefire agreement.
Since late May of the current year, close to 800 people seeking aid have been killed as per UN reports. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) further explained that the majority of Gaza’s population is now internally displaced, with 87.8 percent of the territory under Israeli evacuation orders or within militarized zones.
UN agencies continue to warn of deteriorating conditions. UNRWA said Israel’s restrictions have brought Gaza to the brink of famine, while UNICEF reports that at least 112 children are admitted to hospitals each day for acute malnutrition. Since June, at least 620 Palestinians, including 70 children, have died of hunger-related causes.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 875 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food in Gaza as of 13 July. Of those, 674 were killed near sites run by Global Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israeli-backed initiative operating outside the UN’s coordinated aid system. The remaining 201 were killed along the routes or near convoys managed by the UN and its partners still operating in Gaza.
The OHCHR noted that these killings began shortly after the GHF began distributing aid on 27 May, bypassing established humanitarian agencies.
Israeli attacks since 7 October have killed at least 58,895 Palestinians and wounded nearly 140,000 other Palestinian civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Thousands more are missing under the rubble, and independent estimates suggest the actual death toll could be significantly higher.
Comments (0)