An Israeli government spokesperson on Tuesday denied reports that the Israeli Defense Forces had fired on civilians near an aid distribution point in the Gaza Strip the previous day.
“Let’s be clear: Israel is not preventing Gazans from accessing humanitarian aid, and the IDF did not fire at civilians in or near aid distribution zones,” said David Mencer during a press briefing for international reporters held by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Mencer was responding to allegations by Palestinians in Gaza that Israeli troops had killed 27 people near an aid distribution point in the Rafah area. Shortly after the incident, the IDF said it had only fired at a few individuals who had approached Israeli forces in the area.
On Sunday, Israeli troops were accused of a separate alleged incident in Khan Yunis near an aid delivery point, in which Gaza sources said 30 had been killed. The IDF denied killing civilians there and later released footage of masked gunmen firing on civilians.
“The IDF is doing everything in its power to allow Gazans to get to the humanitarian aid. The IDF is not preventing the arrival of Gazans at humanitarian aid sites. Indeed, we are encouraging it,” Mencer said at the press briefing, which focused on the Monday incident.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for an “immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told Reuters and other outlets on Tuesday.
Guterres, whom Israel has accused of having an anti-Israel agenda, considers the incident “unacceptable” and the loss of life “unthinkable,” Dujarric added.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing on Tuesday: “We’re going to look into reports before we confirm them from this podium or before we take action.” This is “because, unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth,” Leavitt said. She singled out the BBC for criticism over its reporting on Gaza.
Al Jazeera aired a graphic video that it claimed was the aftermath of a deadly Israeli strike near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Monday. The footage, viewed over 130,000 times in a single post on X on Monday, shows bodies on the ground amid dust clouds.
However, BBC journalists geolocated that video to some 4.5 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the nearest aid distribution point. Moreover, shadow analysis suggests the video was filmed in the evening, while the reported shootings took place in the morning. A local journalist who filmed a second video of the same scene confirmed a strike happened there after 7 p.m. local time and was unrelated to any aid site.
In commenting about Monday’s alleged incident, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said IDF troops had “fired at individuals traveling on a no-traffic route to remove them, and after they did not stop, shots were fired at individual suspects approaching the troops.”
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen Effie Defrin on Tuesday said the incidents around aid delivery centers are part of how “Hamas is actively trying to prevent them [Gazans] from receiving the aid. We operate nearby and do whatever is necessary to ensure that the aid does not fall into the hands of Hamas,” he said.
Gazans are “coming to the distribution centers to receive the aid. The civilian population of Gaza understands that Hamas is not taking care of them,” he added.
The aid sites in Gaza are being operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) group, which 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.
GHF began distributing aid after Guterres said in April that the United Nations would refuse to participate in delivering aid under the IDF’s new parameters as it would “callously” limit distribution.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oren Marmorstein on Monday said that “The real investigation that needs to be opened is why the U.N. continues to resist any attempt to provide aid directly to the people of Gaza.”