IDF denies responsibility after reports of 31 dead in Israeli attack near aid site

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has denied involvement in an attack in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, with Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry reporting that 31 people have been killed in the incident, and more than 150 injured.

There are conflicting reports about the number of people who have been killed and whether the deaths were as a result of an airstrike or gunfire from Israeli forces.

Earlier, a nearby hospital run by the Red Cross reported that at least 21 people had been killed. The hospital, which has been receiving bodies and the wounded, also said another 175 people had been injured.

IDF spokesperson BG Effie Defrin posted on X to 'set the record straight', saying in the video: "I'm here in the city of Rafah. So far we have opened four distribution centres."

Read more: 'We have to keep trying': Greta Thunberg sets sail on journey to bring aid relief to Gaza as activist is joined by 11 others

Read more: 'Absolute carnage': British doctor describes horror in Gaza hospital after Israel 'opens fire' on aid centre

He continued: "We have already distributed over 16,000 packages of food to the people. Hamas is doing its best to stop us from doing so. It is spreading rumours and fake news. I urge you not to believe every rumour spread by Hamas. We will investigate every one of those incidents."

However, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at the Gaza aid site reported being “shot from all sides” by Israeli forces.

Witnesses also said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) hub, a new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name MSF, blamed the GHF system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

“Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,” MSF said in a statement.

MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF’s system of aid delivery “dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective.”

“It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented."

She added that humanitarian aid must "only" be provided by humanitarian organisations who have the competence to do it safely.

MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with “visible gunshot wounds in their limbs.”

MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid.

“They told us to take food — then they fired from every direction,” he said. “This isn’t aid. It’s a lie.”

However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike. It is not yet clear if eyewitnesses and Hamas-affiliated media are giving different accounts of the same incident.

The IDF shared another video to X, which they have said shows 'Hamas terrorists shoot at Gazan civilians to prevent them from reaching US-led aid centres' on Sunday.

In a statement, the IDF said "false reports have been spread" in recent hours, including "serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip".

"Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false."

The IDF says it is working with the American Civil Organisation (GHF) and other international aid organisations to get aid to civilians.

A number of eyewitnesses have told outlets they saw Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution centre, with some witnessing the deaths of relatives as they waited for aid.

Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub, according to Sky News.

He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.

"They opened heavy fire directly toward us," he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative.

In an interview on Sky News on Sunday, Israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs Sharren Haskel suggested reports of the attack could be "Hamas propaganda", with the IDF unable to provide "any information" to her at that point.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution of aid is a controversial one, operating as part of a system which Israel and the US says is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. It has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites.