Five people were killed and dozens more injured during an aid delivery in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Red Crescent. (Said Khatib/AFP)
- The Red Crescent said five people were killed during an
aid delivery in Gaza on Saturday. - The incident took place after thousands of people
gathered to wait for about 15 trucks of flour and other food. - The Red Crescent said three of the five people killed on
Saturday had been shot dead.
The
Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens wounded by
gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery Saturday in Gaza, where famine is
looming.
AFP
video footage shows a convoy of trucks moving quickly past burning debris near
the distribution point in the pre-dawn darkness as people shout and gunfire
echoes – some of which were warning shots, witnesses said.
The
Red Crescent said it happened after thousands of people gathered for the
arrival of around 15 trucks of flour and other food, which were supposed to be
handed out at Gaza City’s Kuwait roundabout in the territory’s north.
The
roundabout has been the scene of several chaotic and deadly aid distribution
incidents, including one on 23 March in which the Hamas-run government said 21
people were killed by Israeli fire – a charge Israel denied.
The
Red Crescent said three of the five killed early Saturday had been shot.
Eyewitnesses
told AFP that Gazans overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Israeli
troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to
get the food.
AFP
contacted the Israeli military for comment.
A
UN-backed report warned on 19 March that half of Gazans are experiencing
“catastrophic” hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the
territory unless there is urgent intervention.
The
report estimated that 1.1 million people – half the population, according to UN
data – were facing catastrophic conditions.
The
situation is particularly dire in the north of Gaza, where the United Nations
says there are about 300 000 people – and where the report said famine was
“imminent… projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May”.