Israel kills starving Palestinians as US envoy visits aid sites

GAZA CITY, Aug 01 (Agencies): US President Donald Trump's special envoy inspected a US-backed food distribution centre in war-torn Gaza on Friday, as the UN rights office reported that Israeli forces had killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians waiting for aid.
The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to the US-backed aid points.
The UN's rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 -- 105 of them in the last two days of July.
"Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on X that he and Witkoff had visited Gaza "to learn the truth" about the private aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States.
"We received briefings from IDF (the Israeli military) and spoke to folks on the ground. GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!" Huckabee said.
Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Friday, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site inside the Palestinian territory. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike near the southern city of Khan Yunis, and four more in a separate strike on a vehicle in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah.
The Israeli army told AFP it could not confirm the strikes without specific coordinates.
Two other people were killed and more than 70 injured by Israeli fire while waiting for aid near a food distribution centre run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) between Khan Yunis and the nearby city of Rafah, the civil defence said.
Thousands of Gazans have gathered each day near aid distribution points in Gaza, including the four managed by GHF, whose operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
HRW slams 'death trap' US-backed
aid centres in Gaza
Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Israeli forces operating outside US-backed aid centres in war-torn Gaza of routinely killing Palestinian civilians seeking food, as well as using starvation as a weapon of war.
"US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
After nearly 22 months of war in Gaza between Israeli forces and the militant group Hamas, the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine and civilians are starving to death, according to a UN-mandated expert report.
France to halt Gaza arrivals pending probe into student's antisemitic posts
France will suspend its programme to receive Palestinians from conflict-torn Gaza pending the outcome of an investigation into how a student accused of sharing antisemitic posts was allowed into the country, the French foreign minister said Friday.
The move comes after officials said the female student from Gaza will have to leave France after the Sciences Po university in the northern city of Lille revoked her accreditation over the online posts.
"No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn conclusions from this investigation," Jean-Noel Barrot told Franceinfo radio.