Deir al-Balah: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including four children, while 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said on Saturday.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

At least 24 people were killed on their way to a food distribution site near Rafah run by an Israeli-backed American organisation, said hospital officials and witnesses, including those wounded. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It added it was not aware of any casualties from the incident.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said no incident occurred near its sites.

More killings near an American-run aid site

The Israeli military said it fired warning shots to disperse a group of people it believed were “posing a threat to the troops." The incident occurred in the Rafah area, hundreds of meters (yards) from the food distribution site, it said. The military said it was not aware of any casualties.

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A Palestinian man carries a bag of flour at a UN World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Gaza City | Photo: AFP

A GHF spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the group's policies, said, “We checked with our extended team and this incident didn't happen near our sites.”

Witnesses there said they were on their way to the site seeking food and were shot at.

Abdullah al-Haddad said he was 200 meters (655 feet) away from an aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area, west of Rafah, when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians.

“We were together, and they shot us at once,” he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital.

Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said the Israeli military had ordered them to proceed to the site, when the shooting started.

Sumaya al-Sha'er's 17 year-old son, Nasir, was killed in the shooting near the site, hospital officials said.

“He said to me, Mom, you don't have flour and today I'll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I'll go and get it,'” she said. “But he never came back home.”

Up until then, she said she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous. But with food supplies running out, she had no choice but to relent.

The GHF denies there has been any violence in or around its sites in the past. But two of its contractors told The Associated Press that their colleagues have fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, allegations denied by the foundation.

Witnesses, health officials and UN officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward the GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media.

The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

The UN and aid groups say they are struggling to distribute humanitarian aid because of continued Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.

Military operations in Gaza continue

The Israeli military said that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas sites.

Also on Saturday, the Israeli military announced said there were strict restrictions along the Mediterranean coast, and called on fishermen, swimmers and divers from going to the sea.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

AP