The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday rejected claims its troops had fired at civilians in Khan Yunis, and released footage showing Palestinian gunmen shooting at least one person.
A preliminary IDF investigation found no gunfire by Israeli forces in the area, south of Gaza City, at the time of the incident on Sunday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.
The statement came in response to reports accusing Israel of killing dozens of civilians near a U.S. aid distribution site. The IDF released drone footage showing masked gunmen firing at civilians in Khan Yunis at what the IDF said was the time of the incident.
The Red Cross reported 21 deaths and 179 injuries from what it called a “mass casualty incident,” saying most of the victims suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds. However, the organization did not specify who was responsible for the shooting.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry set the death toll at 31, claiming all victims had been shot in the head or chest. Hamas called the incident a “massacre,” accusing Israel of luring civilians to a pre-announced aid point before opening fire.
In a video message issued after the international media picked up the initial reports, IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said: “The IDF did not fire at civilians in or near the humanitarian aid distribution area.”
The IDF blamed Hamas for spreading false claims and accused the group of deliberately targeting Gaza civilians to obstruct aid delivery.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a video published on Sunday called on world media to correct what he said was “a huge lie.”
“This morning, all world media reported a huge lie. They said that Israeli tanks opened fire on food distribution centers, on Gazans,” said the former premier. “This did not happen. It’s simply a lie.
“We looked into it. At no distribution center or near any distribution center, no one opened fire,” he said, urging followers to “refute this.”
The IDF emphasized it is cooperating with the American NGO Global Humanitarian Foundation and other international agencies to ensure food reaches civilians, not Hamas.
“The continued misinformation, mischaracterization and unfortunately completely false reports by some major media outlets [are] very disheartening to our aid workers and their vital efforts to feed the hungry people of Gaza,” said GHF interim executive director John Acree.
The group, which is not connected to the United Nations, began operations on May 27. The aid facilities are secured by U.S. military contractors and remotely monitored by the Israel Defense Forces. International humanitarian NGOs reportedly manage the delivery of food and other supplies.
Footage released by GHF showed no gunfire during the time of the aid distribution on Sunday. The organization said more than 15,000 food packages—roughly 900,000 meals—were distributed in Khan Yunis that day, and denied any shooting occurred.