At Least 20 Killed in Israeli Strikes on Gaza
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israeli airstrikes and gunfire massacred at least 20 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, intensifying a brutal 20-month war that has left tens of thousands dead and displaced.
Local health officials confirmed the death toll as a result of continued attacks by the occupying Zionist regime.
The escalation comes as the Israeli military expands its campaign with provocative attacks on Iran, prompting retaliatory drone and missile strikes by Tehran.
In a separate deadly incident, 11 Palestinians were martyred near food distribution points operated by a so-called humanitarian entity backed by the US and Israel.
These killings are part of a grim pattern of daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month.
Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that Israeli occupation forces fired live bullets at starving civilians gathered for food.
In contrast, the Israeli military claimed it only used warning shots against what it termed “suspects.”
The food distribution zones are within military areas where independent journalists are barred, raising further concerns about Israel’s concealment of crimes.
The military acknowledged firing warning shots in the Netzarim corridor and using an airstrike against one civilian who continued approaching.
The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor running the sites, announced closures on Saturday.
Nevertheless, thousands of desperate Gazans—suffering under a suffocating blockade and ceaseless bombardment—gathered at the sites seeking food.
Al-Awda Hospital reported receiving eight martyrs and at least 125 injured from one such incident near a GHF distribution area in central Gaza.
Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of Bureij refugee camp, said Zionist forces opened fire on a crowd half a mile from the aid site.
“I saw people falling as they shot at us,” he said. “Everyone ran in panic.”
In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital reported 16 deaths, including five women, following intense Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday.
Three more civilians were killed near two GHF-run food points in Rafah, now an emptied war zone under full Israeli military control.
Despite the casualties, the Israeli military claimed ignorance of any such incident during that period.
In central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, four more lives were lost in another airstrike, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Meanwhile, Israel claimed two projectiles were launched from Gaza, landing in open spaces without causing injuries.
Tel Aviv and Washington assert their new aid initiative replaces the UN-administered relief network.
They accuse Hamas of diverting aid, yet have failed to provide credible evidence.
U.N. officials deny these accusations, stating that the Israeli-designed system is failing to meet humanitarian needs.
They warn that Israel is weaponizing food aid by controlling access and forcing displaced Palestinians to move repeatedly just to survive.
Even after alleged easing of the blockade last month, the U.N. says delivery efforts are crippled by Israeli military restrictions and rampant insecurity.
The war, initiated on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters entered southern Israeli occupied territories in retaliation for years of Israeli racism and aggression.
Israel claims 1,200 Israelis were killed in the initial attack.
In response, Israel has unleashed a genocidal campaign across Gaza for nearly two years.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed—over half of them women and children.
The regime does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its relentless bombardments.
This war has now spilled beyond Gaza, as the Zionist entity's aggression against Iran threatens wider regional instability.
