Israeli fire has killed 73 Palestinians waiting for aid trucks, Gaza‘s Hamas-run health ministry has claimed.
The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza, in one of the highest reported tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed, including 36 on Saturday.
Six other people were killed near another aid site in the south, it claimed.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was ‘an immediate threat’.
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it ‘certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks’.
The latest tragedy comes as Pope Leo XIV slammed the ‘barbarity’ of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the ‘indiscriminate use of force’.
His intervention comes just days after a deadly strike by Israel’s military on a Catholic church.
Pope Leo XIV has slammed the ‘barbarity’ of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the ‘indiscriminate use of force’
An injured Palestinian is being transported to hospital after the shooting near the aid trucks
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, dozens of people lost their lives and were injured after the shooting near the aid truck
‘I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,’ Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome.
The pope, who spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the morning after Thursday’s strike, spoke of his ‘deep sorrow’ for the attack on the Holy Family Church.
The church was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children, including dozens of people with special needs.
Israel expressed ‘deep sorrow’ over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating the strike.
‘This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,’ Leo said on Sunday.
‘I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,’ he added.
The latest humanitarian disaster comes as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced Gazans, some of whom began to leave.
The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants.
Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month.
I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,’ Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome
A young male Palestinian is transported to hospital to address his injuries after the shooting
Palestinians carry sacks of humanitarian aid unloaded from trucks convoy that had been heading to Gaza City on Sunday, July 20
The pope also expressed his ‘sympathy’ for the plight of ‘beloved Middle Eastern Christians’ and their ‘sense of being able to do little in the face of this dramatic situation’.
In total, health authorities in Gaza said 88 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday.
After Israel’s military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighbourhoods in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area.
Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area.
Israel’s military said it had not entered the districts subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing ‘to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area’.
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Hostage families demanded an explanation from the army.
‘Can anyone (promise) to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?’ the families said in a statement.
The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was ‘an immediate threat’
Injured Palestinians are transported to hospitals after Israeli forces fired upon them
Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation.
Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries.
‘We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,’ the health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, said.
The United Nations also said on Sunday that civilians were starving and needed an urgent influx of aid.
Residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The Gaza health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition.
Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours.
Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford.
Several people who spoke to the Reuters news agency via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours.
After Israel’s military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighbourhoods in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area
Palestinians flee Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday, July 20
‘As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain,’ said Ziad, a nurse.
‘People who didn’t die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months,’ he told Reuters.
Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat.
UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in.
Israel’s military said that it ‘views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community’.
Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
