Gaza aid deaths amid evacuation warnings

AT LEAST 73 people have been killed while attempting to access aid at locations across Gaza, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory has said.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

It said 67 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering northern Gaza through the Zikim crossing with Israel. More than 150 people were injured, with some of them in a critical condition, hospitals said.

It was not immediately clear whether they were killed by the Israeli army or armed gangs, or both. But some witnesses said the Israeli military shot at the crowd.

The killings in northern Gaza did not take place near aid distribution points associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, or GHE, a US and Israel-backed group that hands out food packages to Palestinians. Witnesses and health workers say hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access the group’s distribution sites.