Israeli forces kill 23 aid-seekers

US envoy working on plan to end Gaza war

FE Team | Published: August 03, 2025 21:55:31

GAZA, Aug 03 (AP/Reuters/AFP): Israeli forces killed at least 23 Palestinians seeking food on Sunday in Gaza, according to hospital officials and witnesses, who described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged around aid sites, as the malnutrition-related death toll also rose.
Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts have warned is facing famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive.
Yousef Abed, among the crowds en route to a distribution point, described coming under what he called indiscriminate fire, seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground.
"I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets," he said.
Southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital said they received bodies from routes to the sites, including eight from Teina, about three kilometers (1.8 miles) away from a distribution site in Khan Younis, which is operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the private U.S.- and Israeli-backed contractor that took over aid distribution more than two months ago.
The hospital received one body from Shakoush, hundreds of meters (yards) north of a GHF site in Rafah. Another nine aid-seekers were killed by troops near the Morag corridor, it said.
Three Palestinian eyewitnesses, seeking food in Teina and Morag, told The Associated Press shootings occurred on the routes to distribution points, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. They said they saw soldiers open fire on hungry crowds advancing toward troops.
Further north in central Gaza, hospital officials described a similar episode, with Israeli troops opening fire Sunday morning toward crowds of Palestinians trying to reach GHF's fourth and northernmost distribution point.
"Troops were trying to prevent people from advancing. They opened fire and we fled. Some people were shot," said Hamza Matter, one of the aid seekers.
At least five people were killed and 27 wounded near GHF's site close to Netzarim corridor, Awda Hospital said.
Eyewitnesses seeking food have reported similar gunfire attacks in recent days near aid distribution sites, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead.
The United Nations reported 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31 and that hundreds more have been slain along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys.
President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy told families of hostages being held by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza.
Assange joins
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Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday, closing the world famous landmark.
Assange, who returned to Australia last year after his release from a high-security British prison, was pictured surrounded by family and marching alongside former Australian foreign minister and New South Wales premier Bob Carr.
France, Britain and Canada have in recent weeks voiced, in some cases qualified, intentions to diplomatically recognise a Palestinian state as international concern and criticism have grown over malnutrition in Gaza.
Australia has called for an end to the war in Gaza but has so far stopped short of a decision to recognise a Palestinian state.
But in a joint statement with more than a dozen other nations on Tuesday it expressed the "willingness or the positive consideration... to recognise the state of Palestine as an essential step towards the two-State solution".
The pro-Palestinian crowd braved heavy winds and rain to march across the bridge, chanting "ceasefire now" and "free Palestine".