Dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire near aid sites in Gaza
At least 36 Palestinians have been killed and many more injured after IDF troops opened fire near aid distribution hubs in south Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
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The deaths occurred near two aid distribution points run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), close to Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza.
At least 36 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, while a further 100 were injured, according to local reports.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along with dozens of wounded.
Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in an area north of another GHF hub in Rafah, the hospital said.
The GHF said there were no incidents "at or near" their sites. It said that the reported IDF activity "occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometres away from the nearest GHF site."
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident.
The IDF said that its troops fired warning shots to prevent "suspects" from approaching them and that the incident occurred before the aid sites opened.
Gaza resident Mahmoud Mokeimar told Sky News he was approaching the aid site with a crowd of people when IDF troops fired warning shots at the crowd, before opening fire.
"It was a massacre... the occupation opened fire at us indiscriminately," he said.
Another witness told Sky News troops fired machine guns mounted on tanks and drones at the crowd.
The most recent incident follows weeks of reported shootings by IDF soldiers on crowds at aid distribution sites in Gaza.
The GHF uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Israeli military zones. Israel and the US say the system is necessary to stop Hamas from intercepting and stealing aid deliveries. The UN says no evidence has been offered to prove that Hamas is stealing aid
On 15 July, the UN human rights office said it had so far recorded 674 killings in the vicinity of the GHF's four aid distribution sites over the past six weeks.
The GHF says there have been no deadly shootings at its sites, and accused the UN of using "false and misleading" figures from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The figures are widely viewed as a reliable count of bodies seen by hospitals in Gaza.