TEL AVIV: At least 20 people were killed in an attack in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, according to Palestinian reports. The Hamas-controlled health authority said Israeli troops had fired on people waiting at a roundabout, although the Israeli army firmly rejected the claims. More than 150 other people were injured, according to the health authority. The Israeli army said on Friday it had enabled a convoy of 31 lorries carrying humanitarian aid to travel to the north of the Gaza Strip the previous day.
"Approximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy to the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy," the statement said.
"As aid trucks were entering, the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gazan civilians were run over by the trucks," the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said.
A thorough initial investigation during the night revealed that the Israeli army had not fired on the aid convoy, the IDF said, accusing Hamas of a "smear campaign" aimed at using false information to sow violence in other areas during Ramadhan.
The army also firmly rejected previous reports that troops had fired on people waiting for humanitarian aid in the Nuseirat refugee camp. "Reports that the Israeli army attacked dozens of Gaza residents at a distribution point for humanitarian aid are false," the army statement said, adding it is investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, Egypt is hoping to reach a deal within a few days for a ceasefire in Gaza that would boost aid deliveries and allow displaced people in the enclave's south to move back north, President Abdel Fattah el Sisi said on Friday.
Sisi also warned against the danger of an Israeli incursion into the city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million people have sought shelter next to Gaza's border with Egypt.
Aid officials have warned of looming famine in the coastal enclave, home to 2.3 million people, with the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip's ruling Hamas now in its sixth month.
"We wish within a few days at most to reach a ceasefire and not to have a negative development that could affect the situation," Sisi said in comments recorded during a visit to a police academy.
"We are talking about reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, meaning a truce, providing the biggest quantity of aid," he said. This would include "curbing the impact of this famine on people, and also allowing for the people in the centre and the south to move towards the north, with a very strong warning against incursion into Rafah".
Sisi added: "We warned of what is happening, that aid not entering would lead to famine." Egypt has joined international calls on Israel to open land crossings with Gaza to let in more aid. - dpa/AFP
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