31 Palestinians killed in Israeli attack near aid delivery point

An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point in Gaza killed as many as 31 Palestinians on Sunday, local health authorities said, as Hamas and Israel exchanged blame over a faltering effort to secure a ceasefire.

The incident in Rafah in the south of the enclave was the latest in a series underscoring the volatile security situation that has complicated aid delivery to Gaza, following the easing of an almost three-month Israeli blockade last month.

“There are martyrs and injuries. Many injuries. It is a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points. Enough,” paramedic Abu Tareq said at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent, affiliated with the international Red Cross, said its medical teams had recovered the bodies of 23 Palestinians and treated another 23 injured people near the aid collection site in Rafah.

Earlier, the Palestinian news agency WAFA and Hamas-affiliated media put the number of deaths at 30. Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies had so far arrived at Nasser Hospital.

The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operates the aid distribution sites in Rafah.

Israel's military said in a statement it was looking into reports that Palestinians had been shot at an aid distribution site, but that it was unaware of injuries caused by military fire.

The GHF denied anyone was killed or injured near its site in Rafah and that all of its distribution had taken place without incident. It accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of fabricating “fake reports”. The GHF is a US-based entity backed by the US and Israeli governments that provides humanitarian aid in Gaza, bypassing traditional relief groups. It began work in Gaza last month and has three sites from where thousands have collected aid.

The GHF has been widely criticised by the international community, with UN officials saying its aid plans would only foment forced relocation of Palestinians in Gaza and more violence.

Residents and medics said Israeli soldiers fired from the ground at a crane nearby that overlooks the area, and a tank opened fire at thousands of people who were en route to get aid from the site in Rafah. Reuters footage showed ambulance vehicles carrying injured people to Nasser Hospital.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel has turned the distribution sites into “death traps” for people seeking aid.

“We affirm to the world that what is taking place is a deliberate and malicious use of aid as a 'weapon of war', employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military,” it said.

Reda Abu Jazar said her brother was killed as he waited to collect food at an aid distribution centre in Rafah. “Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us,” she said, as Palestinian men gathered for funeral prayers. The Red Crescent also reported that 14 more Palestinians were injured on Sunday by Israeli fire near a separate site in central Gaza. The GHF also operates the aid distribution site in central Gaza.

Ceasefire talks falter

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas traded blame for the faltering of a new Arab and the US mediation bid to secure a temporary ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group's response as “totally unacceptable”.

On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians marched at the funeral of a Gaza doctor, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who was critically injured late in May in an airstrike that killed all but one of his 10 children. Najjar died late on Saturday.

“We could die any time, but we are still staying in our land, remaining to work to do our duty towards our people,” said Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals.

The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis that day, but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.

Israel is looking into claims that “civilians” were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began. Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.