GAZA, Jun 12: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday, including 16 who were waiting to collect aid.
The distribution of food and basic supplies in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory's deep hunger crisis.
Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP that the Al-Awda Hospital received 10 dead and around 200 wounded, including women and children, "after Israeli drones dropped multiple bombs on gatherings of civilians near an aid distribution point around the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza".
He said that Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital received six dead following Israeli attacks on aid queues near Netzarim and in the Al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza.
The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports when asked for comment by AFP.
Restrictions imposed on media in the Gaza Strip and the difficulties of access on the ground mean AFP is not able to independently verify the death tolls announced by the civil defence agency.
Mughayyir said another six people were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza.
The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of attacking aid workers en route to a distribution centre on Wednesday, saying at least five people were killed.
GHF said a bus carrying its staff to a distribution site near the southern city of Khan Yunis was "brutally attacked by Hamas" around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT).
In an email to AFP, the group added that all five of the people killed were Palestinian aid workers for GHF.
In a post on X, Israel's foreign ministry accused Hamas of "weaponising suffering in Gaza -- denying food, targeting lifesavers and forsaking its own people".
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since they began operating in late May, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. "AFP
