Nearly 300 casualties have been reported by a staff member of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following Israeli tank fire on Palestinians awaiting aid.
Dr Mohammed Saqer, head of nursing at the hospital, said the individuals arriving at the hospital had been attacked by “tanks” whilst waiting for food.
He said that “nearly 300 mortalities and casualties have just arrived at Nasser Hospital… The situation is now out of control. The hospital can no longer deal with such high numbers of cases”.
The Gaza Health Ministry stated that 45 Palestinians were killed whilst awaiting aid trucks in Khan Younis as a result of Israeli tank shellfire, according to Reuters. The health ministry added that dozens of other individuals were wounded.
Medics said residents reported Israeli tanks fired shells against crowds of desperate Palestinians awaiting aid trucks along the main eastern road in Khan Younis. The medics said they expected the number of fatalities to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
A ministry statement added that Nasser hospital, where the casualties were rushed, had been overwhelmed by the number of deaths and injuries.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on the incident.
Jeremy Laurence, a Geneva-based spokesperson for the UN human rights office, has said: “We are deeply disturbed by the intentional obstruction of aid trying to reach civilians from Gaza to Sudan and elsewhere, including through attacks on aid convoys”.
“Worryingly, these practices appear to be on the increase,” Laurence said. “Wilfully impeding relief supplies to starve civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime“.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(with information from The Guardian)
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