At Least 27 Killed After Israeli Soldiers Open Fire Near Gaza Aid Site

Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday morning near crowds of Palestinians walking toward a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. The Red Cross and Gaza health ministry said at least 27 people had been killed.

It was the second such shooting in three days near the same site in the city of Rafah, where thousands of desperate and hungry Palestinians have been coming early each day in hopes of securing food. Israeli soldiers opened fire on Sunday near an approach to the distribution center. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said at least 23 people were killed.

The deadly incident on Tuesday was the latest chaos to tarnish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a contentious new Israeli-backed aid system in Gaza that has been beset by problems since it began operations last week. The foundation confirmed in a statement that “a number of civilians were injured and killed” after they deviated from an Israeli-designated “safe corridor” that led to one of its distribution sites.

Much is riding on the new initiative: Aid agencies say Gaza faces the threat of widespread starvation in the wake of the 80-day Israeli blockade on food deliveries that ended in mid-May.

The Israeli military said its forces had fired near “a few” people who had strayed from the designated route to the site and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement called them “suspects” and said they had “posed a threat” to soldiers. A military spokeswoman declined to explain the nature of the perceived threat.

The United Nations has boycotted the new system, saying that it endangers civilians by forcing them to walk for miles to get food on a route that goes past Israeli military lines. The U.N. has also argued that the positioning of the distribution points, mostly in Israeli-occupied areas of southern Gaza, could facilitate an Israeli plan to displace the population of northern Gaza.