Israeli forces kill 51 Palestinians waiting for flour at Gaza aid site, witnesses and rescuers say

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Israeli forces have killed more than 51 Palestinians and wounded many more after opening fire near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza, witnesses and rescuers say.

The Hamas-run civil defence agency said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the aid site in Khan Younis. More than 200 people were reportedly injured.

Almost all the casualties in Gaza in recent days have been linked to the delivery of aid rather than Israeli strikes on Hamas targets.

Witnesses say that Israeli forces opened fire and shelled an area near a junction to the east of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had been gathering in the hope of getting flour from a World Food Programme (WFP) site, which also includes a community kitchen nearby.

The response from the IDF has usually been to say that its troops warned people not to approach them – and then fired warning shots when what the IDF calls \"suspects\" acted in a manner deemed to pose a threat. The Israeli army has provided little or no detail beyond this.

Israel does not allow international news organisations including the BBC into Gaza, making verifying what is happening there difficult.

The GHF has also responded to the shootings by saying that they should not be mentioned in connection to their operations, as the incidents are happening away from their sites.

But there is no doubt that thousands of Palestinians would not be gathered in desperate search for limited supplies of food in those areas if it were not for the way that the new distribution system has been set up.

The head of Unrwa – the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – Philippe Lazzarini has said that in Gaza \'tragedies go on unabated while attention shifts elsewhere\'.

Yet there seems to be no plan from Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or the international community to find a way to prevent the near daily killing of Palestinians, as they take their lives in their hands to seek a meagre supply of food.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory\'s health ministry.

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