Israeli military denies attack on starving families in Gaza

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says Israeli fire killed 20 ­people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory, but Israel said the reports were “erroneous”.

Efforts mounted on Thursday to get more aid into the devastated Palestinian territory, where fighting still rages after mediators failed to reach a truce for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The health ministry said citizens had gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north when they were fired upon by ­Israeli forces. Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, said there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people who had gathered at the roundabout to wait for a food truck. Several bodies and people who had been shot could been seen.

The Israeli military denied it had opened fire on the crowd of Gazans waiting for aid. “Press ­reports that Israeli forces attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are erroneous,” it said, adding that it was “analysing the incident seriously”.

UN agencies have warned of famine in Gaza, which Israel ­besieged after the unprecedented massacre by Hamas militants on October 7. The humanitarian emergency has forced some countries to use airdrops and sea routes for aid supplies because of limited land access to Gaza via Jordan, Israel and Egypt.

The Spanish aid vessel Open Arms, towing about 200 tonnes of food, was nearing Israel’s coast after ­departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed late on Thursday. Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said a second, bigger vessel was being readied for the maritime aid corridor, which will be complemented by a temporary pier to be built off Gaza by US troops.

However, the air and sea missions are “no alternative” to land deliveries, 25 organisations including Amnesty International and Oxfam said. Amnesty secretary-general Agnes Callamard said the decision to build the pier, which could enable the provision of more than two million meals a day, suggested that the international community seemed to ­accept that the war will drag on.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Thursday on pledges to invade Rafah in the south, where most of Gaza’s population has sought ­refuge and Israel is threatening a ground assault. Around 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge in and around Rafah. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Wednesday a “significant” number of them would need to be moved “to a humanitarian island that we will create with the international community”.

Israel has carried out a relentless campaign of bombardment and ground operations in Gaza in retaliation, killing at least 31,341 people, most of them civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Hamas militants also seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, dozens of whom were ­released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes about 130 of the captives remain in Gaza and that 32 are dead. ­Activists and families of the hostages kept up pressure for their negotiated release, again blocking a Tel Aviv highway in protest on Thursday night.