DEIR al-BALAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early on Friday, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while waiting for aid.
Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights office says it has recorded 613 killings within the span of a month in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and as Palestinians try to reach aid at distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization since it first began operations in late May.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
In a message to media, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were “GHF-related,” meaning at or near its distribution sites.
“Information keeps coming in,” she added. “This is ongoing and it is unacceptable.”
The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel’s military.
The Israeli military also issued new evacuation orders Friday in northeast Khan Younis and urged Palestinians to move west ahead of planned military operations against Hamas in the area. The new evacuation zones pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller spaces by the coast.
More deaths reported near aid distribution sites occurred overnight Friday, according to officials in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
At least three Palestinians were killed near aid sites in Rafah, which is close to two operated by GHF. Another 17 were killed waiting for trucks to pass by in eastern Khan Younis in the Tahliya area.
Of the 15 Palestinians killed in Friday’s strikes, eight were women and one was a child, the hospital said. The strikes hit the Muwasi area, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering in tents.
Israel’s military said it was looking into Friday’s reported strikes. The military, whose forces are deployed on the roads leading to the aid distribution sites, has previously said it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops.
Shamdasani originally told a U.N. briefing the recent spate of killings were recorded both at GHF sites and near humanitarian convoys. She later clarified to the news agencies that the killings in the vicinity of GHF distribution points were “at or near their distribution sites.”
The count from the rights office, which used a strict methodology to verify such figures, was based in part on information from hospitals that receive dead bodies, she said.
Also Friday, Israel’s military said a soldier was killed in combat in the north of Gaza and it was investigating. Over 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza.
The recent killings took place as efforts to halt the 21-month war appeared to be moving forward.
