Palestinians gather along a beach adjoining a makeshift camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 30, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Abed / AFP)
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Heavy clashes and explosions shook Gaza, witnesses said on Saturday, as the Red Crescent reported several people killed during the latest chaotic aid distribution in the territory's north, where famine looms.
The Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery in Gaza's north.
Eyewitnesses told AFP that Gazans overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Israeli troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to get the food.
The Israeli military told AFP it "has no record of the incident described".
Fighting has not eased -- including around the territory's largest hospital -- and the latest toll from the health ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 82 more people were killed in the previous 24 hours, adding that at least 32,705 people, mostly women and children, are killed till now.
The press office in the Strip reported more than 50 Israeli air strikes over the past day, with "civilian houses" targeted across the coastal territory, as well as tank fire in the Gaza City area and southern Gaza.
Famine 'setting in'
In its ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said it had accepted South Africa's argument that the further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza required Israel to do more, with famine now "setting in."
Saturday's aid delivery chaos is the latest incident of its kind in north Gaza, where a UN-backed report has projected famine by May unless urgent intervention occurs.
The report released on March 19 warned that half of Gazans are feeling "catastrophic" hunger.
The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, COGAT, said the assessment contained inaccuracies and questionable sources.
Israel's allies, and the UN, have blamed Israel for limitations on the aid flow but COGAT accused United Nations agencies of being unable to handle the quantity of assistance arriving daily.
With limited ground access, several nations have begun aid airdrops, and a ship was expected to depart Saturday from Cyprus with the second cargo of food assistance.
ICJ rulings are binding but it has little means of enforcement.
'A deep sadness'
Meanwhile on Saturday Israel's military continued operations around Gaza's largest hospital Al-Shifa for a 13th day.
Most of the Palestinian territory's hospitals are not functioning and its health system is "barely surviving," the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA, said.
Troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, but the army says Palestinian fighters have since returned.
On Saturday, Hamas said that in addition to the ongoing Al-Shifa operation, Israeli troops continued "aggression" against Nasser Hospital and "besiege" Al-Amal Hospital in the same city.
The army said troops continue to operate in the Al-Amal area of Khan Yunis.
Gaza's Christian minority are marking Easter weekend, but in Jerusalem fewer pilgrims were visible.
"There is a deep sadness you can feel in the air," John Timmons, of Australia, said on Good Friday, when Christians in the walled Old City follow the path they believe Christ took to his crucifixion.
