Local health authorities and medics in Gaza yesterday said at least 56 people were killed by Israeli air strikes on a school housing displaced families in Gaza City and a tent encampment in Khan Younis.
Three other people were killed by Israeli gunfire and dozens were wounded as crowds awaited UN aid trucks along a main route in central Gaza, medics said, the latest in a series of multiple fatalities at aid distribution points.
The new deaths come as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the US, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.
Meanwhile, a committee representing influential families in Gaza yesterday rejected Netanyahu’s accusation that some aid entering the war-torn Palestinian territory was being looted by Hamas.
After Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on Gaza, aid began being allowed in at a trickle in late May.
Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions, with chaotic scenes and near-daily deaths marring aid distribution.
In a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz published late yesterday, Netanyahu said there was “information received today indicating that Hamas is once again taking control of humanitarian aid entering the northern Gaza Strip and stealing it from civilians.”
He announced that he had instructed the military to draft a plan “to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid.”
A statement from Gaza’s higher committee for tribal affairs – a non-Hamas affiliated committee created during the war – yesterday rejected the claim that Hamas was stealing aid.
“Gaza’s tribal leaders affirmed that all aid is fully secured under their direct supervision and is being distributed exclusively through international agencies,” the committee representing influential families said.
“The securing of aid has been carried out purely through tribal efforts,” it added.
The statement rejected Netanyahu’s comments as “false claims” and called for a United Nations delegation to determine if aid was being correctly dispatched in Gaza.
Footage from Wednesday showed a truck convoy led by a UN vehicle carrying aid into northern Gaza after entering through the Zikim gate, south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Masked and armed young men could be seen riding atop the large aid bundles on the five trucks.
The men said they were protecting the convoy from being looted before reaching its final destination.
l The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the State Department said yesterday, calling on other countries to also support the controversial group delivering aid in war-torn Gaza.
“This support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump’s and Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of peace in the region,” State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a regular news briefing. Reuters was first to report the move earlier this week.
Washington has long backed GHF diplomatically, but this is the first known US’ financial contribution to the organisation, which uses private for-profit US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.
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