More than 2 dozen killed as Gazans again face gunfire outside humanitarian aid site

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• Geoff Bennett:

  It's designed to deliver food to the most desperate, but for the third time in three days, Gazans faced gunfire outside a new humanitarian aid site. Today, as many as 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers. That's according to Palestinian health officials and the International Red Cross.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Some half-a-million people in Gaza are extremely food-insecure and are on the verge of famine.

  Nick Schifrin begins our coverage. And a warning: Images in this story are disturbing.

• Nick Schifrin:

  This morning in Gaza, they set out to end their hunger. They died hungry, more than two dozen killed before they could pick up food. Some died anonymously, their body bags marked "Name Unknown" next to the time of death.

  For others, irreplaceable loss. Ahmed Zadan will never again see his mother. "Mom, please come back to me," he says. "Please come back."

  Relatives say Reem Ahmed was killed trying to feed her family. Another son lays his head on his mother's body one last time.

  For Gazans, accessing the barest of necessities, beans, pasta, rice, has become a daily gamble with their lives. Often for crumbs.

  Rasha Al-Nahal shows what little she managed to collect.

• Rasha Al-Nahal, Displaced Gazan (through interpreter):

  We don't get anything. We see people getting killed in front of us and end up leaving empty-handed. We're tired and we can't take this anymore. We'd rather die than deal with this. Death is more dignified to us than what's happening to us.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The new sites are run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which funnels Gazans into small areas secured by private American contractors. The sites lie within exclusive military zones, and Israeli soldiers are right outside.

  Today, Israeli troops fired about a third of a mile from the humanitarian site only to protect themselves, said spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin.

• Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, Israeli Defense Forces Spokesperson:

  Earlier today, IDF forces carried out warning fire approximately half-a-kilometer from the aid distribution center targeting a few individuals who were approaching in a way that posed a security threat.

  We are not preventing Gaza residents from accessing the aid distribution sites. The IDF is committed to uncovering the truth and will examine any incident that requires review.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But it's not the first time Israeli troops have fired outside GHF sites. And on multiple occasions, aid distribution has descended into chaos. U.N. and aid officials oppose these sites because they do not adhere to traditional humanitarian principles, International Rescue Committee's Ciaran Donnelly told me last week.

• Ciaran Donnelly, Senior Vice President, International Rescue Committee:

  The way that it's been organized, with limited distribution sites, forcing people to concentrate themselves in fundamentally undignified and inhumane conditions to receive food, just simply doesn't meet that very basic test for good humanitarian work.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But Israel and the U.S. argue Hamas has been stealing aid to fund its attacks and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which opened a female-only distribution site today, is the best way to feed a hungry population that is terrorized by Hamas, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said today.

• Tammy Bruce, State Department Spokesperson:

  They wouldn't need to be there if Hamas would lay down their weapons and release all the hostages and the bodies that they're also holding.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But the war goes on, as does daily displacement of families, who are forced to find whatever food they can.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.