Local medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defense Authority say at least 35 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids on Gaza, including 12 guarding arriving aid trucks.
Seven guards were killed in a raid in Rafah while protecting aid trucks from violent armed robbery, which UN workers say is the main obstacle to supplies reaching southern Gaza. Another attack led to the killing of five guards in Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army said it “launched precise strikes on armed Hamas terrorists” who planned to hijack the trucks.
The Civil Defense said that 15 people were killed in a separate Israeli attack near the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Agence France-Presse, “The occupation once again targeted those responsible for securing aid trucks.”
He added that about 30 people, most of them children, were also injured in the two raids.
Basal said that the trucks were carrying flour to warehouses belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Recently, amid severe food shortages, UN workers say violent armed robberies have been the main obstacle to aid reaching the southern part of Gaza. Civilians, as well as remnants of Hamas police, gathered to try to confront the gangs.
Hamas says Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 policemen charged with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the start of the latest war on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli army said in a statement: “During the night, following intelligence information indicating the presence of Hamas terrorists, the Israeli army launched precise strikes on armed Hamas terrorists who gathered at two different gathering points in southern Gaza.”
He added, “All the terrorists who were eliminated were members of Hamas and were planning to violently hijack humanitarian aid trucks and transport them to Hamas.”
In a separate incident, the Civil Defense said that Israeli air strikes on two homes near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and Gaza City in the north killed 21 more people.
Basal said that at least six children were among the 15 dead in Nuseirat, while the bodies of six other people were found after a raid on an apartment in Gaza City.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the Palestinian movement's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 44,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Strip.
After months of failed international efforts to end the war, the Israeli Defense Minister informed his American counterpart that there was a chance to reach a new agreement that would allow the return of all remaining hostages, including American citizens.
Other reports indicated that a limited deal with Hamas was being discussed.
