The Israeli military has said it is examining reports of civilians being “harmed” while approaching aid distribution centres in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Since GHF operations began in late May, following a three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza, there have been almost daily reports from medics, eyewitnesses and the Hamas-run health ministry of Israeli fire killing people seeking aid at these sites.
The UN says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.
The Israeli military said on Monday instructions had been issued to forces after “lessons learned”, but did not specify what these lessons were.
The IDF has on numerous occasions said it has fired what it has described as “warning shots” on “suspects” approaching its troops.
Multiple Israeli media outlets, including the Times of Israel, reported on Monday that the IDF had acknowledged that some Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid, but that the IDF said Hamas’s casualty figures were inaccurate.
Israeli media reported that the military had admitted that in some cases “inaccurate” fire by Israeli forces had led to casualties and some deaths.
The BBC put these points to the IDF, which said in response that “reports of incidents of harm” were being “examined” and that “any allegation of a deviation from the law or IDF directives will be thoroughly examined and further action will be taken as necessary.”
It said it had no further comment regarding the claims made in Israeli media on Monday.
However it denied any allegations of deliberate fire at civilians, such as those raised in a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday.
That report quoted unnamed IDF soldiers who said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites, to drive them away or disperse them.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious falsehoods”.
The GHF aid system has been condemned by UN agencies, and on Friday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres branded it “inherently unsafe”. It is intended to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Palestinians. Israel and the US said the system would prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing.
Within days of GHF operations starting in late May, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on 1 and 3 June, sparking international condemnation.
On Friday GHF boss Johnnie Moore told the BBC he was not denying reports of deaths near aid sites, but said “100% of those casualties are being attributed to close proximity to GHF” and that was “not true”.
Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, to send journalists into Gaza.
In its statement on Monday, the IDF said it was reorganising access to the sites and this would include new “fencing” and signposting, including directional and warning signs. This was aimed at “improving the operational response in the area, minimising friction with the population, and ensuring that the aid reaches its intended recipients”, it said.
It also said it had decided to close an aid distribution centre in the Tel al-Sultan area near Rafah in southern Gaza to establish a new one nearby.
Last week the US State Department announced $30m (£22m) in funding for the GHF, which is its first known direct contribution to the group.
Israel partially eased its three-month blockade of Gaza following pressure from US allies and warnings from global experts that half a million people were facing starvation.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 56,500 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
