Israeli soldiers kill 20 more people in Gaza raids

The Gaza Strip Civil Defense announced on Wednesday 25 that 20 people died and dozens were injured in Israeli army operations in the Palestinian territory.

At least six people were killed and 30 were injured in Israeli fire against thousands of civilians waiting for food aid near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, the agency's spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, said.

When asked by AFP , the Israeli army said it was investigating the incident.

The other victims reported by Civil Defense were hit by Israeli bombings against residential buildings in the center and north of the territory, Bassal said.

Every night, thousands of Palestinians gather in the Netzarim corridor area to wait for aid distribution points to open , but the operations often result in chaotic scenes.

On Tuesday, in the same sector, Gaza Civil Defense reported the deaths of 46 people by Israeli fire while they were waiting for humanitarian aid.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an opaque funding body backed by the United States and Israel, runs four food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared on Tuesday that using food as a weapon “is a war crime” and urged the Israeli army to “stop shooting at people trying to get help.”

Israel partially lifted in late May the total blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza that had been imposed more than two months earlier and had caused severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential goods.

The war in Gaza began with an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

The Israeli military campaign in Palestinian territory has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry, considered reliable by the UN.