Thirty-one people have been killed and more than 150 injured in Israeli gunfire near an aid distribution centre in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry and medics say.
Reports said one incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday as people were queueing for aid in Rafah in the south of Gaza. Another incident was said to have happened near a separate aid centre in central Gaza, with reports of 14 injured.
The group that is providing the aid, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has denied the claims and said they had been spread by Hamas.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said findings from an initial inquiry said its forces had not fired at Gazans while they were near or within aid points.
“In recent hours, false reports have been spread, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.
“Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false,” it added.
As of Sunday evening, the situation remained unclear with regards to reports of the incidents near aid distribution centres in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor.
The BBC was contacted by doctors at the Nasser hospital who said they had received about 200 people with injuries caused by bullets or shrapnel.
Local journalists and activists shared footage of bodies and wounded people being transported on donkey carts to the Red Cross field hospital in the al-Mawasi area.
The BBC has examined footage of bodies being carried on carts and in the back of lorries to Nasser Hospital.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 200 cases had arrived at hospitals, including 31 dead.
Seventy-nine of the injured were brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to the emergency department, medical staff from British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians reported.
Those killed and injured “were primarily struck by live gunfire, with many victims sustaining direct shots to the head or chest”, the charity’s staff said.
