Gazan authorities said that more than 100 people waiting for food were also injured.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured while waiting for food aid in Gaza City on Thursday night, according to the Gazan Ministry of Health.
Videos of the aftermath posted to social media, which could not be immediately verified, showed bodies lying motionless on the ground. It was not immediately clear what caused the bloodshed. The ministry did not specify the weaponry used in the attack, and news reports differed in their descriptions.
The bloodshed took place near the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City, a site where crowds are known to gather to receive desperately sought food aid, according to the Gazan ministry.
The circumstances could not be immediately verified. A statement from the Gazan ministry called it a “targeted” attack by Israeli forces, but the Israeli military categorically denied it had attacked Gazans waiting for aid.
“The reports that the IDF attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are false,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. “As the IDF assess the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves, we urge the media to do the same and rely on credible information.”
The Gazan ministry statement said, “Dozens of martyrs and wounded after Israeli occupation forces targeted a gathering of civilians waiting for humanitarian aid.”
Some of the wounded, the ministry said, had been taken to Shifa Hospital, once the enclave’s largest medical facility.
“Medical teams are unable to deal with the extent and type of injuries that are arriving at hospitals in northern Gaza due to the poor medical and human resources,” the ministry said.
Israel has bombarded and besieged Gaza since Hamas, the militant group than controls the territory, launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Food aid has been slow to enter the enclave amid disagreements over inspection protocols, increased lawlessness and accusations that Hamas is pilfering food from civilians for its fighters.
Thursday’s bloodshed echoed an incident on Feb. 29, in which hundreds of people were killed and injured amid a stampede and Israeli gunfire when a convoy of trucks tried to deliver aid in Gaza City last month.
