Aid lorry overturns and kills 20 in Gaza as UN blames Israel for starving Palestinians

Security Council members describe plan to reoccupy whole of Gaza as 'deeply alarming' as Trump says US is focused on food

Hamas has accused Israel of forcing drivers to take dangerous routes to reach distribution centres. EPA

At least 20 people have been killed after an aid lorry overturned on a crowd of people in central Gaza – as condemnation of starvation caused by Israel's blockade grows.

Footage posted by the Palestinian Wafa news agency showed dead and injured bodies after the lorry overturned near the Nuseirat refugee camp on Wednesday. It is the latest in a string of tragedies to affect aid seekers.

Gaza's civil defence agency spokesperson, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP that the lorry was driving on an unsafe road that Israel had previously bombed. Hamas has accused Israel of forcing lorry drivers to take dangerous routes to reach aid distribution centres and says it is aimed at “engineering” starvation and chaos.

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Israel “forces drivers to navigate routes overcrowded with starving civilians who have been waiting for weeks for the most basic necessities,” Hamas's media office said in a statement.

Israel's government maintains it is not to blame for harrowing images of emaciated children in Gaza begging for food, or crying at some of the last remaining charity kitchens for a spoonful of beans. It says there are unused aid supplies in Gaza and accuses Hamas and the UN of preventing their delivery. But an Israeli blockade on the enclave has made the delivery of supplies almost impossible.

The UAE and Jordan are among several countries carrying out airdrops of aid in an attempt to provide some humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip, where warnings of a famine are on the rise.

The Gaza Health Ministry said five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours. This brings the number of those who have died from hunger during the conflict to 193, including 96 children, the ministry added.

Members of the UN Security Council have blamed Israel for starving Palestinians in Gaza after imposing a two-month blockade on all food and medical assistance and condemned Israeli media reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to reoccupy the enclave, calling them “deeply alarming” if true.

Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama shows a picture of a severely malnourished child to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar during a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday. EPA

The UN comments were made at an emergency meeting called for by Israel, after seeing footage of their emaciated hostages.

At the meeting, Algeria's Ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, held up a picture of a malnourished child towards Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

UN assistant secretary general Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council that reoccupying the whole of Gaza “would risk catastrophic consequences … and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages”.

Before the UN Security Council met on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said his country was focused on bringing food into the enclave. He was responding to a question about whether he would support Israel reoccupying all of Gaza.

“As far as the rest of it, I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel,” he said, in comments that distance the US from Israel's military plans in the enclave.

At the UN meeting, Mr Saar accused Russia and other council members, as well as the international media, of perpetuating “so many lies” about the situation in Gaza – particularly over starvation.

British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said the UK supported the release of hostages but said that their suffering and that of Palestinian civilians in Gaza had sunk to new depths. She blamed Israel for the situation, saying its aid restrictions had led to a famine – as declared by the IPC hunger monitor last week.

Ms Woodward said she spoke to doctors last week who had served in Gaza and had seen children so malnourished that “their wounds festered for months without healing”. The doctors also saw baby formula confiscated by the Israeli military, she said.

Palestinians wounded while seeking aid in Gaza are treated at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis. Reuters

In addition to the wounded, Nasser Hospital said it received bodies from Morag and others killed near an aid site in southern Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. EPA

Dozens were killed or wounded as desperate crowds headed towards food distribution points, aid lorries and air-dropped parcels in the enclave. Reuters

Witnesses and health officials said Israeli forces fired towards crowds near aid sites. Reuters

Medics attend to wounded Palestinians at Nasser Hospital. Reuters

People wounded while trying to reach aid lorries entering Gaza through the Morag corridor receive treatment at Nasser Hospital. AP

Palestinians wounded while trying to reach aid lorries entering Gaza through the Morag corridor receive treatment at Nasser Hospital. AP

Wounded Palestinians are treated at Nasser Hospital. EPA

Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea reiterated Mr Trump's recognition of the “real starvation” in Gaza.

On the same day, Mr Trump said: “Israel is going to help us with that in terms of distribution and also money. Arab states are also going to help us with that in terms of money and possibly distribution.”

He said his primary focus was feeding people in Gaza “who are obviously not doing too well with the food”.