Gaza's deadliest 'aid seeker' day as at least 80 killed trying to get food and water

Gaza has suffered one of its deadliest days yet for aid seekers with at least 80 killed whilst desperately trying to reach food and water. The UN food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking aid amid fears of mass starvation.

The World Food Programmewarns 90,000 women and children are facing malnutrition, some not eating for days, as Israel launched a major push into central Gaza. Around 86% of the Strip’s two million population is being packed into small areas, forced south after leaflet-drop evacuation orders and major attacks. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the aid station incident.

The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat", but has questioned the Palestinian death toll reports. The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel amplifies claims by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd.

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The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it is not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt.

As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to over 59,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

Israel has not in past conflicts questioned the validity of Gazan death toll records. Troops have widened evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.

Israeli troops ordered Palestinians to leave Deir al Balah, central Gaza, and shift south toal-Mawasi - marking the first major assault on Deir al-Balah. It has sparked fears for hostages still held in the Strip, just 20 of the 50 remaining prisoners thought still to be alive. Israel’s Missing Families Forum said: “The hostages’ families were filled with dread and were rattled by reports that the IDF intends to operate in areas of central Gaza in which it has not yet operated.

“Can anyone promise us that the decision won’t cost the price of the loss of our loved ones?” In northern Gaza the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area.

The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy "came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire," backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of "countless lives."

"These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation," it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X on Sunday that soldiers were told "do not engage, do not shoot".

Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified. Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous.

A US and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.