Eight dead at Gaza aid distribution center

Eight people were killed today and more than 40 were injured by gunfire near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution point in southern Gaza, medical sources announced.

The victims were taken to the Red Cross field hospital in Rafah, medical sources told Spanish news agency EFE.

Most of the victims had gunshot wounds to the upper body, they added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Friday that a member of its staff was injured by a stray bullet while treating patients at the organization's field hospital.

In recent weeks, the ICRC has treated hundreds of Palestinians injured as they tried to reach the foundation's distribution point, known by its acronym GHF, in Rafah.

The GHF is run by US contractors and supported by Israel as an alternative to the UN for distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

The United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Gaza have denounced the GHF's ​​methods and criteria.

The Israeli army itself has acknowledged on several occasions that it fired on groups of people near GHF distribution points, located in military zones.

According to the Hamas government in the enclave, more than 700 Gazans have been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to access the limited aid that enters the territory, both at GHF points and along UN truck routes.

Gaza Civil Defense announced today the deaths of at least 20 people in several Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip in the last few hours.

The current war in Gaza, a territory with more than two million inhabitants, began in October 2023, after the Hamas attack on Israel that caused around 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages.

The Israeli military offensive following the attack caused more than 57,100 deaths in Gaza, the destruction of much of the territory's infrastructure and a crisis in assistance to the population, who were deprived of food and medical aid.

Of the 251 people abducted in Israel in October 2023, 49 remained in detention in Gaza, but 27 of them were declared dead by the Israeli army.

The radical group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union.