Israel ended the ceasefire in March after Hamas refused to change the agreement to release more hostages sooner. Israeli strikes have killed thousands of Palestinians since then, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage in the Oct 7, 2023, attack into Israel that ignited the war. They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.Read more: Colorado attack: 6 injured, use of makeshift flamethrower – What we know so far
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Around 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the Oct 7 attack, including more than 400 during the fighting inside Gaza.
On June 2, Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip opened fire early Monday as people headed toward an aid distribution site a kilometre away, killing at least three and wounding dozens, health officials and a witness said. The military said it fired warning shots at “suspects” who approached its forces.
The shooting occurred at the same location where witnesses say Israeli forces fired a day earlier on crowds heading toward the aid hub in southern Gaza run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on Monday toward “several suspects who advanced toward the troops and posed a threat to them,” around a kilometre (1,000 yards) away from the aid distribution site at a time when it was closed. The army denied it was preventing people from reaching the site.
Read more: Red Cross Hospital: At least 21 Palestinians killed on way to Gaza aid center
The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the foundation’s new system for aid distribution. They say it violates humanitarian principles and cannot meet mounting needs in the territory of roughly 2 million people, where experts have warned of famine because of an Israeli blockade that was only slightly eased last month.
In a separate incident Monday, an Israeli strike on a residential building in northern Gaza killed 14 people, according to health officials. The Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals confirmed the toll from the strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, saying five women and seven children were among those killed.
The military said it had struck “terror targets” across northern Gaza, without elaborating. Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group is entrenched in populated areas.
