JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Wednesday said soldiers did not fire at civilians at an aid distribution point in the Gaza Strip the day before, after a United Nations official reported numerous gunshot wounds.
"We are checking information from the UN. At the time we are speaking, we have no information on this matter," military spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told AFP, referring to the wounded civilians.
Israeli soldiers "fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside" the centre managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), he said, adding that "in no case (did they fire) towards the people".
Rafowicz added that "Hamas is doing everything to prevent humanitarian aid".
Ajith Sunghay, the head of UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said on Wednesday that "about 47 people were injured" on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed toward a new aid distribution centre in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
"Most of the injuries were caused by bullets," and "the shots came from the Israeli army", he said.
According to AFP journalists at the site, thousands of Palestinians rushed toward the centre being managed by the GHF, an organisation created with the support of the United States and Israel to distribute aid inside the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations and international aid agencies have declared they will not cooperate with the GHF, which has been accused of working with Israel without any Palestinian involvement and bypassing the UN.
"We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism," Sunghay said.
"What we saw yesterday is a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food under the circumstances which the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is doing."
