UN chief calls for probe into deaths near Gaza aid site

GAZA CITY

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for an independent investigation into the killing and wounding of scores of Palestinians near a U.S.-backed aid centre in Gaza the day before.

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli gunfire killed at least 31 people and wounded 176 near the aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah on Sunday, with medics at nearby hospitals also reporting a deluge of gunshot wound victims.

The Israeli military denied firing at people "while they were near or within" the site.

But a military source acknowledged "warning shots were fired towards several suspects" overnight about a kilometre away.

"I am appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza yesterday. It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food," Guterres said in a statement, without assigning blame for the deaths.

"I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable."

Israel's foreign ministry called the statement "a disgrace", and faulted Guterres for not criticising Hamas.

The Israeli government has worked with the group running the site, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to introduce a new mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza that has bypassed the longstanding U.N.-led system.

The U.N. has declined to work with the group out of concerns about its neutrality.

Gaza's civil defence agency also said Tuesday that Israeli troops killed at least 15 people in the south of the Palestinian territory.

"At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded... when Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones on thousands of civilians who had gathered since dawn near the Al-Alam roundabout in the Al-Mawasi area, northwest of Rafah," civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

  'Bullets were chasing people' 

One 33-year-old who was present on Sunday told AFP it was "around 5 or 5:30 am, before sunrise" when the gunfire broke out at a spot known as the Al-Alam roundabout, where a crowd had gathered from the early hours of the morning to wait before heading to the GHF centre about a kilometre away.

"Of course it was the Israeli army who shot live bullets," said the witness, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals.

"Thousands of people were waiting at Al-Alam roundabout... but the army fired and everyone ran away. There was fear and chaos. I saw with my own eyes martyrs and wounded in the area."

Another witness elsewhere in the crowd, 35-year-old Mohammed Abu Deqqa, said "at first, we thought they were warning shots".

"But it didn't take long before the shooting intensified. I began to see people lying on the ground, covered in blood. That was around 5:30 am," he said.

"People started running, but many couldn't escape. The bullets were chasing people even as they tried to flee."

AFP photos taken around 5:40 am showed civilians loading bodies onto donkey carts shortly after sunrise.

Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said teams of rescuers arrived around 6:00 am and began assisting with the dead and wounded, though civilians and other paramedics had already taken some to Nasser hospital and a Red Cross field hospital.

  'Warning shots were fired' 

The military on Sunday said an initial inquiry indicated its troops "did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site", and urged "media to be cautious with information published" by Hamas.

But according to an Israeli military source, "warning shots were fired towards several suspects who advanced towards the troops" overnight.

The incident took place "approximately one kilometre away" from the GHF distribution centre, outside of operating hours, the source said.

Army spokesman Effie Defrin said Sunday that "Hamas is doing its best, its utmost, to stop us from" distributing aid, and vowed to "investigate each one of those allegations" against Israeli troops.

A GHF spokesperson also accused Hamas of circulating "fake reports", saying: "All aid was distributed today without incident."

In a video message from Nasser hospital later on Sunday morning, visiting British surgeon Victoria Rose described a scene of "absolute carnage", saying "all the bays are full, and they're all gunshot wounds".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 people, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.

The ICRC reported that all the wounded "said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site", adding that "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds".

  'Intense force' 

GHF said that as of Monday, it had distributed more than 5.8 million meals' worth of food from its centres.

Israel has come under increasing international pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza following a more than two-month blockade on aid that was only recently eased.

The U.N. has warned the entire population is at risk of famine, and has also reported recent incidents of aid being looted, including by armed individuals.

Talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.

Civil defense spokesman Bassal said 14 people were killed on Monday in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the north.

Asked for comment, the army said only that "strikes were conducted toward terror targets in northern Gaza".

The Israeli military also issued an evacuation order for parts of Khan Yunis on Monday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians.