31 Reported Killed on Way to Aid Site

At least 31 Palestinians were fatally shot on their way to an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, while Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians including four children, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said. The 31 people killed were on their way to a distribution site run by the Israeli-backed American organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near Rafah in southern Gaza, hospital officials and witnesses said. The Red Cross said that its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings, the AP reports, and that the overwhelming majority of the more than 100 people hurt had gunshot wounds.

• Attacks: Airstrikes in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah killed 13, including the four children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser Hospital. Intense airstrikes continued Saturday evening in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
• The need: The 21-month war has left much of Gaza's population of over 2 million reliant on outside aid while food security experts warn of famine. Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after ending the latest ceasefire in March. "All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites," the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the "alarming frequency and scale" of such mass casualty incidents.

• Israeli response: Israel's military said it fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties. The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites.
• Witness accounts: Abdullah al-Haddad said he was about 200 yards from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians, per the AP. "We were together, and they shot us at once," he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital. Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel's military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started.