Four Palestinians killed seeking aid as famine death toll rises

Israeli forces killed four aid seekers travelling on Sunday through a military zone south of Gaza City – an area regularly used by Palestinians trying to reach a food distribution point, a hospital and witnesses said.

The deaths add to the growing toll of Palestinians killed while seeking food, as parts of the Gaza Strip plunge into famine and Israel’s military ramps up activity in northern Gaza ahead of a planned offensive to seize its largest city.

Al-Awda Hospital and two witnesses told the Associated Press that the four Palestinians were killed when troops opened fire on a crowd heading to a site run by the Israeli-backed American contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area.

It occurred hundreds of metres away from the site.

“The gunfire was indiscriminate,” Mohamed Abed, a father of two from the Bureij refugee camp, said, adding that while many fled some people fell to the ground after being shot.

Abed and Aymed Sayyad, another aid seeker among the crowd, said troops opened fire when a group near the front of the crowd pushed forward toward a distribution site before its scheduled opening.

Mr Sayyad said he and others helped two people who were wounded by gunshots, one in his shoulder and the leg in his leg.

The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The four deaths are the latest in areas where UN convoys have been overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds, and where people have been shot and killed while heading to sites run by the GHF.

More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,500 wounded while seeking aid at distribution points or along convoy routes used by the United Nations and other aid groups, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The ministry said on Saturday that at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.

It said the number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281. The deaths include a child, bringing the death toll from malnutrition among children to 115 since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023.

A total of 174 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, it added.

The health ministry does not say how many of those killed have been fighters or civilians but says about half have been women and children. It is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals.

The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification – the world’s leading authority on food crises – said on Friday that famine is happening in Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

Israel has denied there’s hunger in Gaza, calling reports of starvation “lies” promoted by Hamas.