Exact circumstances of today's incident remain unclear published at 14:01 14:01 Sebastian Usher Middle East analyst
A number of sources in Rafah in southern Gaza have reported that Palestinians gathering near an aid distribution centre were killed or wounded in the early hours of this morning by what they say was Israeli tank fire.
Images have been circulating of the dead and wounded being taken on donkey carts to the nearest treatment centres.
A British surgeon in Gaza said there had been what he called a mass casualty incident. But the exact circumstances of the incident remain unclear.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has denied there were injuries or fatalities at its distribution site - and it accuses Hamas of being behind the reports.
The incident comes hours after Hamas delivered a non-committal response to the latest US-backed ceasefire proposal - which made clear the distance between the two sides still remains too wide to bridge.
37 people killed in last day, says Hamas-run health ministry published at 13:49 13:49 Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has just published its daily report on casualties in the Gaza Strip.
It says:
37 people have been killed, including five recovered bodies, and 136 people have been injured over the past 24 hours A number of people remain under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached The number of people killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March has risen to 4,149. The total death toll in Gaza since Israel launched a military campaign in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023 now stands at 54,418, with 124,190 people injured
'Absolute carnage here', says British doctor at Gaza hospital published at 12:36 12:36 British surgeon Victoria Rose pictured in a hospital setting
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has shared a video, external of British surgeon Victoria Rose, who is in the emergency department at Nasser hospital, describing the aftermath of today's incident.
"We've had a shooting at the GHF aid distribution centre near Rafah," she says, adding: "It's absolute carnage here."
Rose says many injured people were taken from the site to local field hospitals.
"But we have had an extortionate amount of people come through the door," she says, adding locals quote figures between 100 and 200.
The injuries are all gunshot wounds, she adds.
It's still unclear what exactly happened at the aid distribution centre. As we've mentioned, our colleagues at BBC Verify are trying to establish the facts and we’ll bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.
