The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”.
Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.
AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.
“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,“ Abu Hadid said.
It said it was adapting its operations to “overcome these threats” and planned to “resume distributions without delay”.
The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade.
On Saturday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,“ German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. She said they expected to reach Gaza by Monday morning.
“For this case as well, we are prepared,“ army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday.
A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.
The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.
Meanwhile the World Health Organisation said in a statement there were no functioning hospitals left in northern Gaza and said the healthcare system in the territory was collapsing.
Separately, in a special operation in the Rafah area on Friday, Israeli forces retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Also on Saturday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health, with a warning that he would not survive.
bur-kir/dcp/ysm
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre )
Also on site :