Israeli forces reportedly open fire on Gaza aid seekers, killing 67

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on July 20, killing 67 people and wounding dozens more.

- 

GAZA CITY - Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on July 20, killing 67 people and wounding dozens more.

The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed the border from Israel and cleared checkpoints.

Israel's military disputed the death toll, and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City.

Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence, with the authorities in Gaza blaming Israeli forces opening fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials gather in huge numbers near aid centres.

The UN said earlier in July that nearly 800 aid seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said six others were killed on July 20 near an aid distribution centre north-west of Rafah, where dozens of people lost their lives a day earlier.