4 Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces while seeking aid near Gaza City, witnesses say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinian aid-seekers traveling Sunday through a military zone south of Gaza City that is regularly used to reach a food distribution point, a hospital and witnesses said.

Gaza City is in famine after 22 months of war, while Israel’s military moves ahead with a planned offensive to seize the city, perhaps within days. Israel's defense minister has warned that the city of hundreds of thousands of people could be destroyed.

Al-Awda Hospital and two witnesses told The Associated Press the Palestinians were killed when troops opened fire on a crowd heading to a site run by the Israeli-backed U.S. contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the Netzarim corridor area, hundreds of meters (yards) from the site.

“The gunfire was indiscriminate,” said Mohamed Abed, a father of two from the Bureij refugee camp.

Abed and Aymed Sayyad, another aid-seeker, said troops opened fire when a group near the front of the crowd pushed toward the site before its scheduled opening. Sayyad said he and others helped two people wounded by gunshots.

“This incident didn’t occur near our site nor as described,” the GHF said in an email. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gaza's Health Ministry reported another eight malnutrition-related deaths Sunday, including a child. That brings the total number of malnutrition-related deaths during the war to 289, with 115 of them children.

Palestinians by the thousands Sunday again trekked for the chance to grab a sack of flour or other food staples for their families.

At least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the ministry, including missing people confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.

Of those, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,500 wounded while seeking aid at distribution points or along convoy routes used by the United Nations and other aid groups, according to the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry does not say how many of the dead are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

The world’s leading authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said Friday that famine is occurring in Gaza City and could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.

Aid groups have long warned that the war and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation. Israel has denied the existence of widespread hunger, calling reports of starvation “lies” promoted by Hamas.

In Jabaliya, the densely populated refugee camp just north of Gaza City, residents said they endured heavy explosions overnight. Days after Israel’s military announced it was intensifying its operations in the area and mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists to take the city, they said they lived in constant fear.

One displaced Palestinian there, Ossama Matter, said neighborhoods had been razed beyond recognition.

“They want it like Rafah,” he said, referring to the southern Gaza city destroyed earlier in the war. “There have been non-stop explosions and strikes in the past days.”

While fleeing Jabaliya, teacher Salim Dhaher said he saw robots planting explosives as troops advanced. Dhaher said he feared it was part of a larger effort to forcibly remove Palestinians from the north.

The aim is clear, he said: “To destroy everything above the ground and force the transfer.”

There was little sign of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evacuating south ahead of Israel’s invasion of Gaza City, which Israel says is still a Hamas stronghold. Many are exhausted by repeated displacements and unconvinced that any area — including so-called humanitarian zones — offers safety.

The war began when Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.

Hostages' loved ones fear a new offensive will endanger them further, and many Israelis are increasingly vocal about the need for a deal to stop the fighting and bring everyone home. A new call-up of reservists has added to the anxiety.

But efforts toward a ceasefire appear to be waiting for Israel's next move, after Hamas said it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.

“We agreed to a partial deal, while we also expressed readiness for a comprehensive one, HOWEVER, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu rejects all solutions,” Hamas said in a statement Sunday.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Metz reported from Jerusalem.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the body of a boy who was killed while trying to reach a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, as they walk on a road in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Demonstrators block a highway during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas and calling for the Israeli government to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City and other areas in the Gaza Strip, near Bet shemesh, Israel, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Demonstrators block a highway during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas and calling for the Israeli government to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City and other areas in the Gaza Strip, near Bet shemesh, Israel, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A demonstrator takes part in a performance during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinian relatives mourn over the body of 13-year-old Karim Qdeih, who was killed along with others in overnight Israeli strikes, during his funeral outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug, 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)