Army denies IDF gunfire hit Palestinians in north Gaza: Warning shots fired toward threat, not crowd

The Israeli military denies that its gunfire hit Palestinians in an incident in the northern Gaza Strip today, after the Hamas’s government media office claimed 51 were killed and 648 were wounded while waiting to collect aid.

The IDF says that earlier today, it identified a crowd of thousands of Gazans near humanitarian aid trucks that entered northern Gaza from the Zikim Crossing, close to troops operating in the area.

“The forces fired warning shots in the area, not toward the crowd, but against the threat posed to them,” the IDF says.

The military says that according to a preliminary investigation, “there are no known injuries from IDF troops’ gunfire,” adding that the incident is under further investigation.

A military official says that the initial probe also found that “gunfire was heard from within the crowd and there were internal clashes among Gazans within the crowd, in addition to several incidents of people being run over by the aid trucks.”