Israeli forces kill four near Gaza aid distribution site, say medics

Troops fired warning shots at group moving towards them, according to Israeli military

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TEL AVIV/GAZA — Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on June 8 as Palestinians making their way to an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that they had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards them and deemed a threat to them.

It was the latest bout of shooting near aid distribution points in Gaza's south since a controversial Israeli- and US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began handing out aid late in May.

Palestinian paramedics said they had evacuated the bodies of four people who were killed early on June 8 near an aid distribution venue in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Media affiliated with Gaza's dominant Hamas militant group reported that the Israeli military had opened fire near a distribution site in Rafah operated by the GHF.

The Israeli military statement said the people towards whom warning shots were fired before dawn on June 8 had been verbally warned to leave the area, which was considered an active military zone at the time.