Israeli gunfire kills 5 near Gaza aid sites

TEL AVIV/GAZA — At least five Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded by Israeli gunfire on Sunday near two aid distribution points in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing health officials and witnesses.

Four bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinian witnesses there said Israeli forces had fired on them at a roundabout that is around a kilometer from a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the nearby city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, Al-Awda Hospital said in a statement that it received the body of a 42-year-old man and 29 people who were wounded near another GHF aid distribution point, in central Gaza. The military said it fired warning shots in the area but did not see any casualties.

It was the latest bout of shooting near aid distribution points in Gaza's south since the Israeli- and US-backed GHF began handing out aid late last month.

The US-based organization earlier said that aid was distributed in central and southern Gaza on Sunday.

It had handed out no aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Islamist group denied.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that the GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries through a separate long-running UN-led humanitarian operation. Hamas also called on all Palestinians to protect humanitarian convoys.

Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on Saturday.

The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

In another development, the Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas' Oct 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.

Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was recovered from Rafah, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

Agencies - Xinhua