Israeli soldiers speaking with Haaretz say they received orders to fire on desperate Palestinians attempting to reach aid distribution sites in Gaza. Over 550 Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid in the past month.

“Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites,” the outlet explains. Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat.”

Earlier this week, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 549 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,000 injured since Israel restarted aid distribution near the end of May. The IDF has even fired on Palestinians waiting to receive aid with drones and tanks.

One soldier explained to Haaretz, “It’s a killing field.” They added that the Israeli soldiers fired at the Palestinians even though the aid seekers did not present a threat. An officer told the outlet, “It’s neither ethically nor morally acceptable for people to have to reach, or fail to reach, a [humanitarian zone] under tank fire, snipers and mortar shells.”

A doctor in Gaza speaking to NBC News about the aid sites in Gaza said, “It’s a death trap, it’s a slaughterhouse.” They report receiving dozens of patients daily who were wounded near the aid sites.

Haaretz reports that Israeli forces opened fire at Palestinians near aid sites at least 19 times over the past month. Soldiers said some Palestinian militias backed by Tel Aviv have also fired on civilians, including the ISIS-linked Abu Shabab.

On Thursday, at least 18 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike while attempting to receive aid that the Gaza police had recovered from looters.

At the beginning of March, Tel Aviv broke a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal with Hamas by cutting off all aid entering the Strip. Near the end of May, Israel began allowing the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to distribute a limited amount of aid in Gaza.

Human rights groups warned that the GHF’s distribution plan would be insufficient. Over the past week, children have died of deprivation. On Thursday, two infants at the Al-Nassar Hospital in Khan Younis died due to a lack of formula.

The US recently approved sending $30 million to the GHF. The leader of the GHF, Rev Johnny Moore, is a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The doctors who spoke with NBC News said that Israeli aid restrictions are the cause of the formula shortages that are now killing Gazan babies.

First Published at Antiwar.com