Israeli gunfire and airstrikes have killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them near an aid site in the centre of the enclave, according to health officials.
The facility is operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by the United States and Israel.
Medical officials at Shifa and Al-Quds hospitals said at least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded as they approached a food distribution centre near the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim.
Israel's military, which has been at war with Hamas militants since October 2023, said that its forces fired warning shots towards a group of suspects as they posed a threat to troops in the area of the Netzarim Corridor.
"This is despite warnings that the area is an active combat zone. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is aware of reports regarding individuals injured; the details are under review," it added.
Later, health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza said that at least 14 people had died in Israeli gunfire as they approached another GHF site in Rafah.
The foundation accused Hamas of killing at least eight people in an attack on a bus carrying two dozen Palestinians working with the organisation to one of its distribution sites.
"We will continue our mission to provide critical aid to the people of Gaza," it said in a statement.
"Ultimately, the solution is more aid, which will create more certainty and less urgency among the population," it added.
"There is not yet enough food to feed everyone in need in Gaza. Our current focus is to feed as many people as is safely possible within the constraints of a highly volatile environment."
GHF said that it distributed 2.5 million meals yesterday, the largest single-day delivery since it began operations, bringing to more than 16 million the number of meals provided since its operations started late last month.
The health ministry in Gaza said that, since then, 163 Palestinians had been killed and over 1,000 wounded trying to obtain food boxes.
The United Nations condemned the killings and refused to supply aid via the foundation, which uses private contractors with Israeli military backup in what it said is a breach of humanitarian standards.
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Israel's foreign ministry said "Hamas is weaponising suffering in Gaza - denying food, targeting lifesavers and forsaking its own people".
Asked to respond to the GHF accusation, the Hamas government media office in Gaza said GHF was a "filthy tool" of Israeli forces and was being used to "lure civilians into death traps".
It did not comment on the GHF's accusation.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach GHF distribution points since they began operating in late May, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.
The agency said another 21 people were killed while waiting for aid today, adding they were among 29 people across the territory who were killed by Israeli fire.
The Israeli military said it had "conducted warning shots... hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours."
'Died while waiting'
An officially private effort with opaque funding, the GHF began operating on 26 May after Israel cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking international condemnation and warnings of imminent famine.
During its first week of operations, the GHF said it distributed more than seven million meals' worth of food, but its operations were widely criticised even before the deadly shootings near its sites.
The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.
Gaza medics have said hospitals are being inundated with people wounded while trying to obtain food.
At Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital yesterday, the emergency department said it had received dozens of people who had been killed or wounded while waiting for aid in recent days, including 200 in a single day.
"Many Gazans went to the Nabulsi and Netzarim areas to receive aid and were shot at and shelled with tanks," said Mutaz Harara, head of Al-Shifa's emergency department.
But with few medical supplies and no operating theatres, "many patients died while waiting for their turn", he said.
The war has caused major damage to infrastructure across Gaza, including water mains, telecommunication cables, power lines and roads.
The Palestinian Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza following an attack on the territory's last fibre optic cable which it blamed on Israel.
The United Nations said that the internet blackout in Gaza has paralyzed aid operations.
"Lifelines to emergency services, humanitarian coordination, and critical information for civilians have all been cut.
"There is a full internet blackout, and mobile networks are barely functioning," deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
"In a context already limited by physical access restrictions and widespread damage, emergency services are cutoff, and civilians cannot access life-saving support," he said.
Deportation
Meanwhile, Israel's foreign ministry said six people detained aboard a boat while trying to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza were put on a plane for deportation.
"Six more passengers from the 'selfie yacht', including Rima Hassan, are on their way out of Israel. Bye-bye - and don't forget to take a selfie before you leave," the ministry wrote on X.
The post was accompanied by photos of Ms Hassan, a member of European Parliament for the hard-left France Unbowed party who is of Palestinian descent, and other deportees.
Adalah, the rights group that legally represented some of the detainees, said the six detainees, two French citizens and nationals of Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey, had departed Israel.
Twelve people were on board the Madleen sailing boat when it was intercepted by Israeli forces in the eastern Mediterranean about 185kms west of Gaza on Monday.
Four, including two French citizens and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately.
Another two French nationals remain in Israeli custody awaiting deportation tomorrow, Adalah said.
"While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement," it added.
All 12 people on board the Madleen have been banned from Israel for 100 years.
Israel has faced mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, where the United Nations has warned the whole population of more than two million is at risk of famine.
UN to vote on demand for immediate Gaza ceasefire
The United Nations General Assembly will vote today on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza after the US vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week.
The 193-member assembly is likely to adopt the text with overwhelming support, diplomats say, despite Israel lobbying countries this week against taking part in what it called a "politically-motivated, counter-productive charade".
General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry weight as a reflection of the global view on the war.
Previous demands by the body for an end to the war have been ignored. Unlike the Security Council, no country has a veto in the assembly.
The vote comes ahead of a UN conference next week that aims to reinvigorate an international push for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians. The US has urged countries not to attend.
Washington warned that "countries that take anti-Israel actions on the heels of the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to US foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences."
The United States last week vetoed a draft Security Council resolution that also demanded an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" and unhindered aid access in Gaza, arguing it would undermine US-led efforts to broker a ceasefire.
The other 14 countries on the council voted in favour of the draft.
The draft resolution before the General Assembly demands the release of hostages held by Hamas, the return of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
It demands unhindered aid access and "strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians ... of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supply and access."
"This is both false and defamatory," Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote in a letter to member states.
He described the General Assembly draft resolution as an "immensely flawed and harmful text," urging countries not to take part in what he said was a "farce" that undermines hostage negotiations and fails to condemn Hamas.
In October 2023, the assembly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza with 120 votes in favour.
In December 2023, 153 countries voted to demand an immediate humanitarian truce.
Then last December, the body demanded - with 158 votes in favour - an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel said late last night that its forces had retrieved the bodies of two hostages from southern Gaza.
Prior to the latest announcement, out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 were still held in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military has said are dead.
Hamas's assault resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to a tally of official figures.
The health ministry in Gaza says Israel's retaliatory war has killed at least 55,207 people, the majority of them civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
