Friday Briefing

Injured Palestinians at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday.Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Gazans killed and wounded near an aid convoy

Scores of Palestinians were killed or injured yesterday in a chaotic scene in which Israeli forces opened fire as a crowd gathered near a convoy of aid trucks in Gaza City, according to Gazan officials and the Israeli military.

The Gazan health ministry said in a statement that Israeli forces had killed more than 100 people and injured 700 others in a “massacre” as they waited for food from the convoy.

An Israeli military official said that most of the deaths and injuries had happened in a stampede after thousands of people tried to seize supplies from the trucks, and that Israeli troops had opened fire after dozens of people had approached them.

The deaths, in a part of Gaza where starvation is rampant, reflected the desperation in the territory following Israel’s ground invasion, and the incident threatened to derail cease-fire talks.

The latest bloodshed came as Gaza’s health officials reported that the death toll from the war had surpassed 30,000, a grim milestone that intensified pressure on Israel to end its offensive.