Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli fire killed at least 104 people and wounded hundreds more as a crowd of Palestinians waited for humanitarian aid in Gaza City.
The incident happened at the al-Nabusi roundabout in the western part of the city.
The Israeli military said in a statement that dozens of people were hurt amid pushing and trampling as a crowd tried to take aid from trucks during a delivery in northern Gaza. The military added that the incident was under review.
Elsewhere in the enclave, the Israel Defense Forces reported carrying out ground operations in northern Gaza, as well as airstrikes in the Khan Younis area in the southern part of the territory.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said earlier Thursday the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s offensive had risen to at least 30,035, with another 70,457 wounded.
In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said all parties in the Israel-Hamas war had committed war crimes.
"It is time — well past time — for peace, investigation and accountability,” Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Turk also warned about a planned Israeli offensive in Rafah, the area of southern Gaza where an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians are currently living, many of them having fled other areas in search of safety.
Turk said an offensive in Rafah "would take the nightmare being inflicted on people in Gaza into a new, dystopian, dimension."
Israeli officials have mentioned evacuating civilians from Rafah, but they have not given any details about where the Palestinians might be able to go. Egypt, which borders Rafah, has said it will not open its borders. Much of Gaza has been leveled during Israel's massive counteroffensive after the October 7 Hamas terror attack killed 1,200 people in Israel.
The United Nations said Wednesday that those trying to distribute or receive humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip are facing life-threatening challenges.
Speaking to reporters in New York, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the dangers presented by the ongoing conflict have prompted the repeated U.N. calls for a humanitarian cease-fire.
“Yes, there are trucks that have crossed from Israel into Gaza. The situation in Gaza is, as we’ve described it numerous times, almost impossible for us to do humanitarian work,” Dujarric said. “There is an active conflict going on. There’s a breakdown of law and order. There is insufficient coordination on the security end, on deconfliction with Israel. We’ve laid out all the challenges. That doesn’t stop us from working.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
