AGENCIES, Palestinian Territories

A UN team has reported seeing “a large number” of gunshot wounds among Gazans after Israeli troops opened fire near an aid convoy, an incident which highlighted near-famine conditions after nearly five months of war.

Israeli troops opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food supplies during a chaotic incident in Gaza City on Thursday that the ministry said killed 115 people and wounded more than 750.

The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of Palestinians surrounded the aid convoy, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over.

An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”.

The Israeli armed forces spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said troops had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a “mob” that had “ambushed” the aid trucks.

On Friday a UN team visited some of the wounded from the aid incident, in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, and saw a “large number of gunshot wounds”, UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said, reports AFP.

The hospital received 70 of the dead, and around 200 wounded were still there during the team’s visit, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

He was not aware of the team examining those killed, but said “from what they saw in terms of the patients who were alive getting treatments is that there was a large number of gunshot wounds”.

Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza City’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, said all the casualties it admitted were hit by “bullets and shrapnel from occupation forces”, a reference to Israel.

Meanwhile, at least 11 Palestinians were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in Rafah in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the Gaza health ministry said, reports Reuters.

The Gaza health ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the strike next to a hospital in the Tel Al-Sultan area of Rafah. One of the dead was a medic at the hospital. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hostilities came amid uncertainty over whether negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire would resume on Sunday.

Israel and Hamas have been negotiating via mediators including Egypt and Qatar.

Two Egyptian security sources said Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday to resume indirect talks.

But an Israeli report cast doubt on this.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or Hamas.

The Egyptian sources said the parties had agreed on the duration of a Gaza truce, as well as hostage and prisoner releases, adding that the completion of the deal still requires an agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from northern Gaza and a return of its residents.