Israeli gunfire kills dozens at Gaza aid site

What happened

Israeli troops opened fire Sunday on a crowd of hungry Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip as they awaited a United Nations aid convoy. At least 67 were killed and dozens wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry. Another 32 people were killed Saturday near a separate aid site.

The U.N. estimates that at least 875 people have died in the war-torn region while trying to access food in recent months, and most of those deaths occurred near sites run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Who said what

The civilians were "anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies" from the U.N. World Food Program on Sunday when they came under fire from "Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire," the WFP said in a statement, adding: "There should never, ever, be armed groups near, or on, our aid convoys."

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The Israeli military said it had fired "warning shots" to "remove an immediate threat." It disputed the death toll reported by Gazan authorities but did not give specific figures of its own, saying the incident was under review.

What next?

The "mounting deaths and the hunger crisis" could hinder ceasefire talks happening in Qatar, a Hamas official told Reuters. Meanwhile, Israel is expanding its offensive into Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, which is "one of the few parts of the Palestinian enclave where it has not yet deployed ground forces," said the Financial Times. The army issued an evacuation order for the densely-populated city Sunday. More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed during the 21 months of Israeli military operations in Gaza.