Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip opened fire early Monday as people headed toward an aid distribution site a kilometer away, killing at least three and wounding dozens, health officials and a witness said. The military said it fired warning shots at “suspects” who approached its forces.
The shooting occurred at the same location where witnesses say Israeli forces fired a day earlier on crowds heading toward the aid hub in southern Gaza run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on Monday toward “several suspects who advanced toward the troops and posed a threat to them,” around a kilometer (1,000 yards) away from the aid distribution site at a time when it was closed. The army denied it was preventing people from reaching the site.
The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the foundation’s new system for aid distribution. They say it violates humanitarian principles and cannot meet mounting needs in the territory of roughly 2 million people, where experts have warned of famine because of an Israeli blockade that was only slightly eased last month.
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