The Hamas-run government in Gaza said Israeli fire killed 19 people as they were waiting at an aid distribution point on Saturday, a charge Israel denied.
The deaths if confirmed would be the latest in a series of cases of Gazan civilians being killed while seeking desperately needed relief supplies.
The Hamas government media office said 19 people were killed and 23 wounded. The Health Ministry said “they were waiting for aid trucks” when they were hit by “Israeli occupation Army tank fire and shells”. The Israeli Army denied it had fired on the crowd.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli military had said that its forces fighting in Gaza have killed more than 170 gunmen during their days-long raid at the Palestinian enclave’s main hospital.
Israeli troops entered Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Monday morning and have been combing through the sprawling complex, which the military says is connected to a tunnel network used as a base for Hamas and other Palestinian fighters.
More than 350 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far been detained at the hospital.
