Scores killed, injured in new Israeli attack on Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid

Scores of people were killed and injured when Israeli forces shelled Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said Sunday.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the attack took place at the Kuwait roundabout south of Gaza City.

"Israeli occupation forces are carrying out a systematic genocide against thousands of hungry stomachs in northern Gaza," the spokesman said.

There was no comment from the Israeli army on the report.

The attack came three days after at least 118 Palestinians were killed and 760 others injured on Thursday when Israeli forces shelled a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,410 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and 71,700 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents in the north where the Thursday shootings took place, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war, now in its 149th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.