Israeli soldiers ordered to shoot at Gazans waiting for aid: Israeli media report

GAZA: Israeli soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza after being “ordered” to do so by their commanders, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The report quotes unnamed soldiers as saying they were told to use lethal force against at the crowds of Palestinians who appeared to pose no threat.

The report describes incidents where soldiers fired tanks’ machine guns and threw grenades at civilians, resulting in significant casualties.

One soldier described the area as a “killing field,” saying that between one and five people were killed daily.

The Israeli military has ordered an investigation into possible war crimes at these aid sites, with the Military Advocate General instructing the army’s Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism to review incidents involving potential violations of the laws of war.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have condemned the report as “blood libel” against the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

The conflict in Gaza has resulted in significant loss of life, with at least 56,331 people killed and 132,632 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a U.S.-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”

Israel and the United States want the U.N. to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the U.N. has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

“Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people,” Guterres told reporters.