At least 20 people were killed overnight by gunfire at an aid distribution point in the north of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas health ministry announced early Friday, with Israel denying having “attacked ” the crowd. A first ship loaded with food is expected in the territory on the verge of famine. According to a specialized site, it is about thirty kilometers off the coast of Gaza on Friday, the day of the first major prayer since the start of Ramadan.
The Palestinian Islamist movement accused the Israeli army of firing from “tanks and helicopters” on people waiting for a distribution of flour at the “Kuwait” roundabout near Gaza City. . For its part, the Israeli army affirmed that it had not “attacked” Palestinians “at an aid distribution point”, specifying that it was “analyzing the incident seriously” but without detailing its version of the facts at this stage.
The UN fears widespread famine
The UN fears widespread famine in the territory besieged by Israel, particularly in the difficult-to-access north, where around 300,000 people currently live. In the north of the Gaza Strip, residents scan the sky daily waiting for an airdrop, but the quantities dropped are limited. As soon as the parachutes approach the ground, they rush into the middle of the ruins, hoping to recover a bag of food.
During the night from Thursday to Friday, a crowd gathered at the “Kuwait” roundabout to wait for the arrival of rare trucks filled with aid was the target of “Israeli fire”, local officials said. “The toll of victims transported to al-Chifa hospital was revised upwards to 20 dead and 155 injured,” Hamas’ health ministry said.
“There was direct fire from the occupying forces on people gathered at the Kuwait roundabout to wait for the arrival of trucks with food,” Dr. Mohammed Ghurab, director of services, told AFP. emergency department of this hospital. On site, an AFP collaborator saw numerous ambulances with remains and injured people.
Aid by land insufficient to meet needs
Efforts are accelerating to try to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory where the population is lacking food after more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Aid by land, very insufficient given the immense needs of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants, mainly enters the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, after having been inspected by Israel. But this volume of aid does not meet the needs of the population, hence the calls to open other routes, leading to the north of the territory, and various initiatives such as airdrops of bags of food.
“Since the war started and people moved south, we have not received any help. We have been wandering since early in the morning hoping for a plane to drop parachutes above us “, a displaced person, Mokhles al-Masry, told AFP, with a bag of flour on his shoulders, in Beit Lahya. But “everyone is scrambling violently to get a box for their children, to get a can of tuna or beans. Everyone is hungry and exhausted.”
A humanitarian maritime corridor opened from Cyprus
Another initiative: a humanitarian maritime corridor opened from Cyprus, at the initiative of the European Union and the United Arab Emirates, with the departure on Tuesday of a first boat from the Spanish NGO Open Arms loaded with 200 tonnes of food provided by the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK).
Early Friday, this boat was located off the coast of the Gaza Strip, according to the specialized site Marine Traffic. A WCK team present in Gaza has built a floating jetty where cargo intended for the population of the north of the territory will be unloaded. “We hope to unload the aid as soon as it is possible to dock, but many factors play into this complicated operation,” WCK President Erin Gore said Thursday of a shipment of about 300,000 prepared meals.
“We all know that this is not enough (…) this is why we must open this corridor with a continuous flow of boats,” added Ms. Gore, whose NGO indicated during the night that it was chartering a second vessel with “hundreds of tons” of food destined for Gaza.
Truce still possible?
These developments come as the United States, Egypt and Qatar – three mediator countries – are trying to secure a truce agreement lasting several weeks combined with the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and an increase in aid entering Gaza ravaged by months of conflict.
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to a count of AFP established from official Israeli sources. According to Israel, around 250 people were kidnapped that day and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, 32 of whom are believed to have died.
In retaliation, Israel promised to “annihilate” the Islamist movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a vast offensive which has so far left at least 31,341 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Benjamin Netanyahu calls Hamas demands “unrealistic”
A source within Hamas told AFP that the Islamist movement had presented to mediators from Egypt and Qatar, “who will inform the Americans”, a position showing “flexibility” regarding the “exchange “hostages against prisoners. Hamas also demands “the withdrawal of Israeli forces” from “all populated areas” of Gaza, this source added.
On Thursday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office deemed Hamas’ demands “unrealistic”, specifying that an update on the talks would be presented “tomorrow” to the war and security cabinets.
In Jerusalem, thousands of members of the police are deployed on Friday for the first major prayer on the Esplanade des Mosques since the start of Ramadan for fear of excesses on the sidelines of the Israel/Hamas war in Gaza.