29 Gaza Natives Killed In Israeli Attacks While They Were Waiting For Aid

According to Gaza’s health ministry, two distinct Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday resulted in the deaths of at least 29 Palestinians who were waiting for help.

In the first incident, an airstrike on an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip’s Al-Nuseirat camp claimed the lives of eight people, according to Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-ruled region.

Subsequently, Israeli gunfire at a crowd waiting for aid trucks at a roundabout in northern Gaza resulted in at least 21 deaths and over 150 injuries, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

Israel’s military denied attacking relief centers in a statement, calling the reports “false.”

“As the IDF assesses the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves, we urge the media to do the same and only rely on credible information,” the statement said.

Over 2.3 million people have been forced to flee the enclave due to the Gaza conflict. People who were extremely hungry scurried for food during aid distributions, resulting in violent scenes and tragic incidents.

Palestinian health officials reported on February 29 that while Palestinians were waiting for a delivery of aid close to Gaza City, Israeli forces opened fire, killing over 100 of them. Israel claimed the victims had been run over or trampled and placed the blame for the deaths on the throngs that surrounded the relief trucks.

Palestinian medics reported that nine people were killed on Thursday when an Israeli missile struck a house in Deir Al-Balah, which is located in central Gaza. Locals reported that throughout the night, Israeli air and ground strikes continued throughout the enclave, notably in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced people are being housed.

According to Israeli tallies, a Hamas-led attack on towns in southern Israel on October 7 resulted in 1,200 deaths and 253 hostages. This attack set off the war.

According to Gaza health authorities, since then, Israel’s air, sea, and land assault on Gaza has resulted in over 31,000 deaths and over 71,500 injuries.

Thus far, there has been no success in efforts to bring Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas to a ceasefire. Israel claimed to be seeking an agreement that would guarantee the release of hostages in Gaza in return for the release of Palestinians detained by Israel; however, Hamas maintains that an agreement must put an end to the conflict.

Hamas claimed late on Thursday that it had given mediators a comprehensive plan for a cease-fire agreement that included halting what it regards as Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, offering assistance and relief, allowing displaced Gazans to return to their homes, and having Israeli forces leave the area.

The new Hamas stance, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, is founded on “unrealistic demands.”

The U.N. has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza—one-quarter of the population—are in danger of starvation as the war enters its sixth month, and international pressure is mounting on Israel to grant more access.

Israel disputes that it is impeding humanitarian aid into Gaza. It has accused Hamas of diverting aid and attributed delays to mistakes made by aid agencies. Hamas disputes this, claiming that Israel’s military offensive uses hunger as a weapon.

A relief ship was making its way toward Gaza, where the American military intends to build a dock so that up to two million meals can be distributed daily.

Although they welcome relief ships, Palestinian and UN representatives stress that maritime deliveries cannot replace the delivery of aid via land crossings.

On Thursday, the first day of Friday prayers in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Hamas called for intensifying demonstrations and attacks against Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

Israeli police reported that a soldier was stabbed on Thursday in a restaurant at a crossroads in southern Israel. It claimed that a 22-year-old suspected attacker from the neighboring Bedouin city of Rahat had been shot and “neutralized.”

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