GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli gunfire and air strikes killed at least 22 people on Friday, including eight who were waiting to collect food aid in the war-battered Palestinian territory.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike in the southern Gaza Strip, and four more when a vehicle was hit in the central area of Deir el-Balah.
Bassal said Israeli forces killed five Palestinians who were trying to return to the Gaza City area, in the territory’s north, after word had spread that troops had withdrawn from there.
There was no comment from the Israeli military, which told AFP it could not confirm any of the incidents without specific coordinates for each of them.
The civil defence agency reported deadly fire at Palestinians who were seeking humanitarian aid, in a territory where UN-backed experts have reported that “famine is now unfolding”.
Bassal said six people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting near northern Gaza’s Zikim crossing, through which aid trucks have entered from Israel in recent weeks.







