UN demands probe after 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local health authorities said, in the third day of chaos and bloodshed to affect the aid operation.

The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of individuals who had left designated access routes near the distribution center in Rafah.

It added it was still investigating what had happened.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday he was "appalled" by reports of Palestinians killed and wounded while seeking aid and called for an independent investigation.

The deaths came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas militants that has laid waste to much of the enclave.

News agencies could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.

More than 35 patients required immediate intervention, the spokesperson added.

The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's population.

The Foundation's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the UN and established charities who say it does not follow humanitarian principles.

The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and that the aid operation was "conducted safely and without incident within the site".

The UN's human rights office on Tuesday described attacks on civilians trying to access food aid as "unconscionable" and that impeding access to food and relief for civilians in Gaza may constitute a war crime.

"For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured," the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jeremy Laurence, said in Geneva.

On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials reported that at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three more Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians gathering for aid and called reports of deaths during Sunday's distribution "fabrications" by Hamas.

On Tuesday, it said IDF forces had identified "a number of suspects" moving towards them while deviating from the access routes. "The forces fired evasive shots, and after they did not move away, additional shots were fired near the individual suspects who were advancing towards the forces," it said.

Mass evacuations

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has demanded an independent investigation and described his horror at reports of Palestinians being killed and wounded while seeking aid. 

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents of several districts in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late on Monday, warning the army would act forcefully against militants operating in those areas.

The military told residents to head west towards the Mawasi humanitarian area. Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, and that most of its 2.3 million population has become internally displaced.

The territory's health ministry said on Tuesday that the new evacuation orders could halt work at the Nasser Hospital, the largest, still-functioning medical facility in the south, endangering the lives of those being treated there.