IDF says it targeted armed gunmen spotted near aid trucks in central Gaza this morning
The IDF says it targeted several armed Palestinians — some of them Hamas operatives — who were spotted next to humanitarian aid trucks in the central Gaza Strip early this morning in a drone strike.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it targeted the gunmen after identifying them near the trucks, adding “the aid was not hit as a result of the strike.”
The statement doesn’t elaborate on how the army knew that only some of the armed operatives targeted were Hamas members.
Hamas claimed that the targeted gunmen were “members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks,” and that six were killed in the strike.
A military source denies Hamas’s allegation that the targets were local security, saying, “This is a false and unfounded claim.”
“This is another example of the cynical use by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip of civilians and humanitarian aid infrastructure that enters the area. The IDF will allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, while making every effort to ensure that the humanitarian aid does not reach terror organizations,” the IDF adds in its response.
While critics argue that armed guards are needed to secure aid to prevent looting, given the desperate need for food in Gaza, Israel in the past has targeted gunmen unless their operations are coordinated. But aid groups say that many of their requests to coordinate the transportation of trucks go unanswered by Israel.
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