Israel accused of shooting aid-seekers

Israel is facing mounting criticism over alleged deliberate killings of unarmed Palestinians near food distribution sites in Gaza, following reports that soldiers were "ordered "to open fire even when no threat was present.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that officers and soldiers said they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near Israeli — and United States-backed food distribution sites.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement calling the report's findings "malicious falsehoods designed to defame" the military.

However, Haaretz reported that the Israeli Military Advocate General has ordered an investigation into possible war crimes at these aid sites.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday: "People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence."

In recent weeks, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured while waiting for food aid at four sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, the Gaza Government Media Office said.

"The report's direct military orders to fire on unarmed civilians who pose no threat, and the use of heavy machine guns, artillery and shells against peaceful gatherings waiting for food, are further evidence that the Israeli occupation army is pursuing a systematic policy of genocide under the false guise of 'relief'," it said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot expressed anger on Saturday over the hundreds of deaths at food distribution centers, saying Paris "stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution" in Gaza.

The GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points, but it has been a source of widespread criticism since its establishment in May.

Harrowing accounts

The Haaretz report quoted multiple anonymous Israeli soldiers describing the military's attacks on Gazans trying to get food aid since May 27.

"We fired machine guns from tanks and threw grenades," one soldier said. "There was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the cover of fog."

Another soldier said that at the place they were stationed in Gaza, between one and five people were killed every day. "It's akin to a lethal version of the children's game 'red light, green light'. It's a killing field," he said.

One of the authors of the report, Nir Hasson, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli directive to fire on civilians is part of a method to "control" aid-seekers.

"It's actually a practice of ... controlling the crowd by fire, like if you wanted the crowd to run off (from) a place, you shoot at them, even though you know they are unarmed," he said.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders on Friday condemned the GHF as "a slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid" and called for it to be immediately shut down.

Adil Husain, a physician from the US city of Dallas, who has been volunteering in southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital for the past two weeks, told US broadcaster NPR that every day he is treating people shot near GHF sites, calling it a horror movie on repeat.

"I can't tell you how many boys, young boys and adults that get rushed into my resuscitation bay, bleeding out from their abdomen, bleeding out from the head," he said. "When I'm exposing them trying to look for their injuries, what I find (are) empty bags."

Since Israel began its military operation in Gaza in October 2023, at least 56,500 people have been killed, Gaza's health authorities said on Sunday.

Agencies contributed to this story.