SAEDNEWS: Israeli regime forces killed at least 110 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza on Saturday, according to medical sources, including 34 people waiting for food rations at the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in southern Rafah.
The killings on Saturday came as progress in ceasefire talks in Qatar stalled and condemnation grew of the Israeli plan to forcibly displace the enclave’s entire population.
In Rafah, survivors and witnesses said Israeli forces fired directly at Palestinians in the al-Shakoush area, in front of one of the GHF sites, which the United Nations and rights groups have condemned as “human slaughterhouses” and “death traps”.
Samir Shaat, who survived the attack, described “pools of blood” at the GHF site, and said the victims were being shrouded in the bags they had hoped to collect food in.
“The bag meant to be filled with food turned into shrouds. I swear to God it is nothing but a death trap,” he said, sitting next to the body of his friend at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. “They opened gunfire on people in a completely frenzied manner. As I carried my friend over my shoulder, I walked among martyrs.”
Mohammad Barbakh, a Palestinian father who also survived the attack, said the victims were killed by Israeli sniper fire.
“They deceive us, letting us come to receive aid. They let us carry the bags, then started shooting at us as if we were ducks being hunted,” he told the AFP news agency.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli soldiers at the GHF site opened fire without warning.
“The GHF keeps only one aid center operational in Rafah, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to the southern part of Gaza to get food aid,” Tareq said.
“Witnesses report that the Israeli military squarely targeted hungry crowds without prior warning, causing a great deal of panic and fear along with chaotic scenes that erupted following the shooting,” he added.
According to doctors in Gaza, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed and 5,000 others wounded at GHF sites since the group began its operations in late May.
“The vast majority were shot in the head and legs,” said Khalil al-Degran, a spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Hospital. “We are struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of casualties amid a devastating shortage of medical supplies.”
