Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 34 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, including more than a dozen civilians who were waiting to collect aid.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP nine people were killed and 181 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries.
Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he said.
Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal, while a drone attack near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed at least three people and wounded several others.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense and the Israeli military.
Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including four managed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Since launching in late May, its operations have been marred by almost-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect aid.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies into Gaza since the start of the war nearly two years ago have led to shortages of food and essential supplies, including medicine and fuel, which hospitals require to power their generators.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure to agree to a ceasefire to bring the territory’s more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants.
But early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of outrage across the globe.
Despite the backlash and rumors of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision.
In a post on social media late Friday, he said “we are not going to occupy Gaza — we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.”
The Palestinian militant group, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war, has slammed the plan to expand the fighting as a “new war crime.”
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The United Nations Security Council is set to hold a rare weekend session to discuss Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City.
Protesters have gathered in major cities across the world, from Buenos Aires to London and Istanbul, urging world leaders to take action and end Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,369 people and wounded 152,850. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli forces carried out new raids across the occupied West Bank this morning, according to the Wafa news agency.
In Nablus city and the nearby Balata camp, forces searched multiple homes and arrested at least three people, including a young woman, Wafa reported. In the village of Burqa, northwest of the city, another young man was detained.
In Bethlehem, Israeli forces raided a home and arrested a father and son, the agency added.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reportedly threatened to bring down the government and force a new election, amid growing tensions over the direction of the war in Gaza.
Smotrich made the remarks during a Thursday night security cabinet meeting to discuss future military operations, according to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. “From my perspective, we can stop everything and let the people decide,” he said.
The governing coalition currently holds just 60 seats in the 120-member Knesset, after the United Torah Judaism party and far-right legislator Avi Maoz quit in recent weeks. An election would only be triggered if parties in the Knesset agree to vote to dissolve the government.
In a rare public rebuke, Smotrich later issued a statement saying he had “lost faith that the prime minister is able and wants to lead the IDF to a decisive victory”.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has criticised the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)’s tribute to the late Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele”, after European football’s governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.
The Palestine Football Association said al-Obeid, 41, was killed in an Israeli attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
In a brief post on the social media platform X, UEFA called the former national team member “a talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times”.
Salah responded: “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”
