GAZA CITY – Israel is targeting Palestinians who gather for humanitarian aid, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said, after the latest attack yesterday on a waiting crowd.
The Hamas media office in Gaza has also said airdrops of humanitarian aid have become “ineffective” as a result, as famine worsens in Gaza, Bernama-Anadolu Agency reports.
The latest attack killed and injured “scores of people” who were waiting at the Kuwait roundabout south of Gaza City.
“Israeli occupation forces are carrying out a systematic genocide against thousands of hungry stomachs in northern Gaza,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
There was no comment from the Israeli army on the report.
The attack came three days after at least 118 Palestinians were killed and 760 others injured on Thursday when Israeli forces shelled a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Hamas media office said airdrops of humanitarian aid were posing a danger to citizens attempting to collect the assistance.
“Aerial aid drops now carry serious consequences for the people, posing a major challenge, as some of them are dropped near the buffer zone (with Israel) or areas controlled by the occupation army or located within the occupied Palestinian territories,” it said.
“The aid that is dropped by air does not achieve justice at all”.
The US said Saturday it had carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, with more than 30,000 meals parachuted from military planes.
Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since October 7 had killed more than 30,410 people and injured 71,700 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli aggression has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. – March 4, 2024