Israeli gunfire kills 17 people near Gaza aid site

GAZA, June 10 (Reuters/AFP): Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded dozens as thousands of displaced people approached an aid distribution site of a US-backed humanitarian group in central Gaza on Tuesday, local health authorities said.

Medics said the casualties were rushed at two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the Al-Quds in Gaza City, in the north.

The Israeli military said they are looking into the incident. Last week it warned Palestinians not to approach routes leading to sites of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) between 6 pm and 6 am local time, describing these roads as closed military zones.

There was no immediate GHF comment on Tuesday's incident.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.

Many Gazans say they have to walk for hours to reach the sites, meaning they have to start travelling well before dawn if they are to stand any chance of receiving food.

While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder, and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence.

Israel deports Thunberg after

intercepting Gaza aid boat

Israel deported campaigner Greta Thunberg on a flight to Sweden via France on Tuesday, after detaining her along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat.

Of the 12 people on board the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily.

Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod.

They then transferred them to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, from where Thunberg flew to France ahead of a scheduled flight to Sweden. On arrival in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, 22-year-old Thunberg accused Israel of "kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel".

"This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing," she said.

Thunberg, one of the world's most prominent voices in the fight against climate change, has avoided air travel for years, and once sailed for a fortnight on a zero-emissions yacht to reach a UN summit in New York.