Fifteen killed by Israeli fire near Gaza aid site, hospitals say

At least 15 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire as they gathered near an aid distribution centre in central Gaza, hospitals say.

Officials at al-Aqsa and al-Awda hospitals said people were shot by troops near a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed by Israel and the US. It is inside the Israeli military's Netzarim Corridor.

The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at a group they believed posed a potential threat. An aircraft also struck one person who advanced rapidly towards them, it added.

The IDF noted the GHF site was closed until Sunday. The GHF posts updates on Facebook, but Gaza has been without internet for more than two days.

This has only added to the confusion that has increasingly surrounded the delivery of aid, with each day seeing incidents in which people are shot at by Israeli troops or local gunmen.

Aid supplies and the internet are vital for people in Gaza - the current lack of both lifelines is rendering their plight even more desperate.

Large numbers of Palestinians appear to be staying near the aid distribution sites - one in the Netzarim Corridor and three others further south - so that they will be ready to get hold of food parcels when and if they are opened.

In another incident on Saturday, al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said 12 people were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for a convoy of aid lorries on the coastal road.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said at least 29 people had been killed across the territory while seeking aid over the past two days, bringing the total killed since the GHF began operations two weeks ago to 274.

Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis meanwhile reported that at least 16 people had been killed by Israeli air strikes in the area overnight.

The Israeli military has not commented, but it earlier warned residents of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila and al-Jadida to evacuate immediately because it was "working with extreme force to destroy terrorist organisations" there.

Nasser hospital is within one of the city blocks covered by the evacuation orders, and there is increasing concern being expressed by aid groups and medics it may lose its ability to provide essential treatment for those with injuries from shootings near distribution points in Rafah.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that Nasser Hospital is struggling to function.

An ICRC source initially suggested most of Nasser Hospital's healthcare workers had left following the expansion of evacuation orders, but they later clarified that the hospital had lost around 10% of its staff.

One of the doctors who has recently been working at Nasser Hospital, Dr Feroze Sidwa, has called for international support to keep it going.

"If international law has any remaining relevance, Nasser must be protected and resupplied, and its staff must be protected immediately," Dr Sidwa said.

Dr Victoria Rose, who was working at Nasser hospital in May, issued an even more urgent warning: "This is the only hospital in the south of Gaza. Nowhere else has ITU beds, a CT scanner, oxygen generating capability, haemodialysis or a blood bank.

"Hundreds of patients will instantly die and all surgery will now have to take place in tents."

Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.