Sixty-two Palestinians, most of them aid seekers, have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since dawn on Saturday, hospital sources in the besieged enclave have told Al Jazeera.
The death toll includes 38 Palestinians seeking aid at distribution sites operated by the controversial United States and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The deaths are the latest killings reported near GHF-operated sites, despite Israel’s announcement last week that it would begin implementing “tactical pauses” in fighting in some areas to allow Palestinians greater access to humanitarian aid.
Israel announced the start of the daily pauses in military operations on July 27. However, 105 Palestinians were killed while seeking food on Wednesday and Thursday alone, the United Nations Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said on Friday.
As of Friday, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid, according to the human rights office.
Another 169 Palestinians, including 93 children, have died of starvation or malnutrition since the start of Israel’s war in October 2023, according to figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Palestinians in the enclave have reported numerous cases of Israeli soldiers and American security contractors hired by the GHF deliberately firing on aid seekers in the vicinity of the distribution sites.
Facing growing international condemnation over the conditions in Gaza, Israel has in recent days allowed airdrops of aid into the enclave by countries including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, Germany and France.
But humanitarian groups, including the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, have warned that the airdrops are insufficient and called on Israel to facilitate the free flow of assistance via land.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said that just 36 aid trucks entered the enclave on Saturday, far short of the 600 trucks it said were needed to meet the humanitarian needs of the population.
In Khan Younis, a Palestine Red Crescent Society staffer was killed and three others wounded by an Israeli attack on its headquarters, according to the aid group.
“One Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) staff member was killed and three others injured after Israeli forces targeted the Society’s headquarters in Khan Younis, igniting a fire on the building’s first floor,” the PRCS said in a post on X on Saturday.
Reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah earlier on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that Palestinians have not seen any improvement in their situation despite the recent deliveries of aid.
“In the markets, you barely find food. Whatever is available is very, very expensive, and Palestinians are still forced to risk their lives to get whatever they can get,” Khoudary said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, on Saturday said Gaza was experiencing a famine that had been “largely shaped” by the attempts to replace the UN-led aid system with the “politically motivated” GHF.
“Sidelining & weakening UNRWA has nothing to do with claims of aid diversion to armed groups. It is a deliberate measure to collectively pressure & punish Palestinians for living in Gaza,” Lazzarini said in a post on X.
UNICEF has warned that malnutrition in Gaza has exceeded the threshold for famine, with 320,000 young children among those at risk of acute malnutrition.
“We are at a crossroads, and the choices made now will determine whether tens of thousands of children live or die,” Ted Chaiban, UNICEF’s deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said in a statement on Friday after a recent visit to Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
