Palestinians say Israel and its allies fired on crowd near Gaza aid site. Hospital says 6 killed

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinians say Israeli forces and allied local gunmen fired toward a crowd heading to an Israeli- and U.S.-supported food distribution center in the Gaza Strip early Monday. Gaza’s Health Ministry said six people were killed.

The gunmen appeared to be allied with the Israeli military, operating in close proximity to troops and retreating into an Israeli military zone in the southern city of Rafah after the crowd hurled stones at them, witnesses said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel recently acknowledged supporting local armed groups opposed to Hamas.

It was the latest in a number of shootings that have killed at least 127 people and wounded hundreds since the rollout of a new food distribution system, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel and the United States say the new system is designed to circumvent Hamas, but it has been rejected by the U.N. and major aid groups.

Experts have meanwhile warned that Israel’s blockade and its ongoing military campaign have put Gaza at risk of famine.

Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired toward crowds heading to the food centers since they opened last month. In previous instances, the Israeli military has said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces near the centers, which are in military zones off limits to independent media.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli- and U.S.-supported private contractor running the sites, says there has been no violence in or around the centers themselves. But GHF repeatedly warns would-be food recipients that stepping off the road designated by the military for people to reach the centers represents "a great danger." It paused delivery at its three distribution sites last week to hold discussions with the military about improving safety on the routes.

GHF closed the Rafah site on Monday due to the "chaos of the crowds," according to a Facebook site associated with the group. A GHF spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Heba Joda, who was in the crowd Monday, said gunfire broke out at a roundabout where previous shootings have occurred, around a kilometer (half a mile) from the aid site. She said the shots came from the "dangerous zone" where Israeli troops and their allies are stationed.

She said she saw men from a local militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab trying to organize the crowds into lines on the road. When people pushed forward, the gunmen opened fire. People then hurled stones at them, forcing them to withdraw toward the Israeli positions, she said.

The Abu Shabab group, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the surroundings of the GHF centers in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting U.N. aid trucks. GHF has said it does not work with the Abu Shabab group.

Hussein Shamimi, who was also in the crowd, said his 14-year-old cousin was among those killed.

"There was an ambush ... the Israelis from one side and Abu Shabab from another," he said.

Mohamed Kabaga, a Palestinian displaced from northern Gaza, said he saw masked men firing toward the crowds after trying to organize them. "They fired at us directly," he said while being treated at Nasser Hospital, in the nearby city of Khan Younis. He had been shot in the neck, as were three other people seen by an Associated Press journalist at the hospital.

Kabaga said he saw around 50 masked men with 4×4 vehicles in the area around the roundabout, close to Israeli military lines. “We didn't receive anything," he said. "They shot us."

Nasser Hospital said several men had been shot in the upper body, including some in the head. Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry’s records department, said six people were killed and more than 99 wounded, some of them at another GHF center in central Gaza.

Israel has demanded GHF replace the U.N.-run system that has distributed food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians since the war began. Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and using it to fund militant activities, but U.N. officials say there is no evidence of any systematic diversion.

The U.N. and other humanitarian groups have rejected the GHF system. It says the mechanism is incapable of meeting Gaza’s huge demands and that it is being used for Israel’s military purposes, including its goal to move Gaza’s entire population of more than 2 million people to the south of the territory around the food centers.

Throughout the war, the U.N.-led network has delivered supplies at hundreds of distribution points around Gaza, meaning large crowds haven’t had to trek for hours past Israeli troops to receive aid.

Israel sealed off Gaza from all food, medicine and fuel at the beginning of March, shortly before it ended a ceasefire with Hamas. It began allowing small amounts of aid in last month, but U.N. agencies say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 55 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,900 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants. The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced some 90% of the population and left the territory almost completely reliant on international aid.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that even then, Israel will maintain open-ended control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries, a plan rejected by most of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion.