Gaza aid centres to be closed for day as IDF warns nearby roads will be ‘considered combat zones’

Aid distribution centres in Gaza were closed on Wednesday, the US-backed organisation operating them confirmed, after Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire near one of its sites.

In a post on Facebook, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – which is endorsed by Israel – said the centres would be shut “for renovations, organisation, and efficiency improvements”.

“Due to the ongoing upgrades, entry into the distribution centre areas is strictly prohibited,” it added.

“Please avoid the site and adhere to the general instructions. Operations will resume on Thursday.”

Following the announcement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told people in Gaza that “travel is prohibited” on Wednesday “via the roads leading to the distribution centres, which are considered combat zones, and entry into the distribution centre areas is strictly prohibited”.

It comes after 27 Palestinians were killed while waiting for aid to be distributed in the Rafah area of southern Gaza early on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The ministry claimed that more than 90 people were injured in what it called a “massacre”, with some of the wounded in a serious condition.

The IDF said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots, about half a kilometre from the aid distribution site of the GHF. It added that people were moving towards its forces in a way that “posed a threat to them”.

Later, IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin said accusations that the Israeli military shot at civilians at the aid centre were “completely unfounded and false”.

“We are debriefing this event, and we will find out the truth,” he added.

The media office of the Gaza government, which is run by Hamas, said in a statement that Israel was transforming aid distribution centres “into mass death traps and bloodbaths” with 102 people killed and 490 more injured in just eight days since the centres opened on 27 May.

The aid centres were “luring starving civilians to them as a result of the crippling famine”, said the media office, which called for humanitarian aid delivered through UN agencies and neutral international organisations rather than the GHF.

The IDF said in a statement: “Earlier today (Tuesday), during the movement of the crowd along the designated routes toward the aid distribution site – approximately half a kilometre from the site – IDF troops identified several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.

“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops.”

Sky News pressed Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer on whether any of these individuals had weapons – but he failed to answer the question.

Mencer told Sky’s Kamali Melbourne: “The warning shots were fired away from the aid distribution point in response to the threat perceived by IDF troops.”

The GHF said in a statement on Tuesday: “While the aid distribution was conducted safely and without incident at our site today, we understand that IDF is investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone. This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area.

“We recognise the difficult nature of the situation and advise all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites. Questions regarding the potential incident should be referred to the IDF Spokesperson.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties. A spokesperson added that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.

There were three children and two women among the dead, according to Mohammed Saqr, who is the head of nursing at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for human rights, Jeremy Laurence, said: “For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’.”

Mr Laurence’s office said the impediment of access to food and relief for civilians in Gaza may constitute a war crime, describing attacks on civilians trying to access food aid as “unconscionable”.

The alleged shooting comes just two days after reports that 31 people were killed as they walked to a distribution centre run by the GHF in the Rafah area.

Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire, while Palestinian and Hamas-linked media attributed the deaths they reported to an Israeli airstrike.

The IDF later said its forces “did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false”.