Israeli forces kill 60 Palestinian aid seekers

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza´s civil defence agency said 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed on Friday by Israeli forces, the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered there daily in the hope of receiving food rations, as famine looms across Gaza after more than 20 months of war.

The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in the Netzarim area had first fired “warning shots” at “suspects” approaching them.

When the individuals continued advancing, “an aircraft struck and eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat,” the army said.

Elsewhere in the territory on Friday, Bassal said 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area.

One of those strikes, which killed three people, hit a phone charging station in the city, Bassal said.

In southern Gaza, two people were killed “by Israeli gunfire” in two separate incidents, he added.

Meanwhile, Israel may have fallen short of its human-rights obligations under a cooperation deal with the EU over its offensive in Gaza, a review of the agreement found on Friday, upping pressure on Brussels to take action.

Israel´s conduct in the Palestinian territory was likely not in line with the principles laid out in the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which forms the basis for trade ties, according to the audit drafted by the EU´s diplomatic service.

“On the basis of the assessments made by the independent international institutions... there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations,” said the document seen by AFP.

Representatives of the EU´s 27 member states were handed the report on Friday.

The text cited Israel´s blockade of humanitarian aid for Gaza, the high number of civilian casualties, attacks on journalists and the massive displacement and destruction caused by the war among the possible rights violations.

The EU´s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is to present its findings to foreign ministers from the bloc´s 27 nations in Brussels on Monday.

But what action might follow is unclear, as the outbreak of Israel´s war with Iran threatens to scupper the necessary consensus among EU member states for Brussels to take any significant step.