<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At least 51 </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/palestine" rel="" target="" title="Palestinians"><span>Palestinians</span></a><span> have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/gaza" rel="" target="" title="Gaza Strip"><span>Gaza Strip</span></a><span> while waiting for </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/united-nations" rel="" target="" title="United Nations"><span>United Nations</span></a><span> and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and a local hospital.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/israel" rel="" target="" title="Israeli"><span>Israeli</span></a><span> military said soldiers had spotted a gathering near an aid truck that was stuck in Khan Younis, near where Israeli forces were operating.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/israel-iran-conflict-donald-trump-says-real-end-better-than-a-ceasefire/a40cdd4e-26ff-461a-87bf-76fb1f69f45b"><strong><span>'A real end' better than a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Trump says</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There are reports of several casualties from IDF gunfire as the crowd approached. The details are being investigated," it said, using an acronym for the Israeli Defense Forces.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The shooting did not appear to be related to a new Israeli- and US-supported aid delivery network that rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>'Aren't we human beings?'</span></strong></h3></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/israel-gaza-update-palestinians-killed-while-waiting-for-aid-trucks-in-gaza-health-officials-say/b0801591-a093-4c0a-932f-ce9aec0cf711" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Yousef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was a massacre," he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. "I survived by a miracle," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The dead and wounded were taken to the city's Nasser Hospital, which confirmed the toll.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/indian-police-release-man-mistakenly-arrested-over-2003-redfern-wheelie-bin-murder/1b46c494-2e0e-4415-9617-002e5db9daeb"><strong><span>Man released after 'mistaken identity' arrest for 2003 wheelie bin murder</span></strong></a><strong><span> </span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Samaher Meqdad was at the hospital looking for her two brothers and a nephew who had been in the crowd.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We don't want flour. We don't want food. We don't want anything," she said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren't we human beings?"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds trying to reach food distribution points run by a separate US and Israeli-backed aid group since the centres opened last month. Local health officials say scores have been killed and hundreds wounded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In those instances, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots at people it said had approached its forces in a suspicious manner.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Desperation grows as rival aid systems can't meet needs</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel says the new system operated by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is designed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid to fund its militant activities.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>UN agencies and major aid groups deny there is any major diversion of aid and have rejected the new system, saying it can't meet the mounting needs in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Experts have warned of famine in the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN-run network has delivered aid across Gaza throughout the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, but has faced major obstacles since Israel loosened a total blockade it had imposed from early March until mid-May. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>UN officials say Israeli military restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it difficult to deliver the aid that Israel has allowed in.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel's military campaign since October 2023 has killed more than 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group's October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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