Gaza’s Health Ministry and witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as a crowd of Palestinians gathered for humanitarian aid in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the details of what happened.

Witnesses and health officials said the shooting took place at a roundabout on Gaza City’s southern edge, where a large crowd had gathered for distribution of food. Footage posted online and confirmed to have been taken on the main road near the roundabout showed hundreds of people fleeing, some carrying boxes of aid, as fire rang out in the background. Men loaded wounded Palestinians onto horse and donkey carts that took off charging down the avenue.

At Shifa Hospital, where casualties were treated, Mohammad al-Reafi lay on the floor, his bloodied leg bandaged, as medics worked on other wounded around them. He said Israeli troops fired into the crowd.

“We were going to get flour ... young people were martyred and other young people were injured,” he said. Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said 20 people were killed and 150 others wounded by the shooting.

A number of aid agencies distribute food and other supplies in Gaza. It was not immediately known which one was operating in the area at the time of the incident. The UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and the UN World Food Programme both said they were not involved.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the October 7 cross-border attack in which the militants killed around 1,00 people and abducted around 250 others. One of the largest air and ground campaigns in recent history, the assault has killed over 25,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the ministry says most of the dead are women and minors. It says the real toll is higher because many casualties were buried under the rubble or are in areas where medics can’t reach them.

Israel blames the high civilian toll on Hamas because the militant group positions fighters, rocket launchers and tunnels in dense, residential neighbourhoods. The military says it has killed thousands of militants, without providing the basis for its count, and that 219 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the offensive until “complete victory” over Hamas, and to return all the hostages. Photo /AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the offensive until “complete victory” over Hamas, and to return all the hostages. The United States, Israel’s top ally, has provided crucial military support and shielded it from international calls for a cease-fire while urging it to scale back operations and facilitate the delivery of more humanitarian aid.

South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide before the UN world court at The Hague, which announced that it would issue a decision Friday on its request for an interim order telling Israel to halt the hostilities.