The US-based charity, the World Central Kitchen, said it had paused its operations in Gaza after a vehicle carrying its members was hit in an Israeli airstrike which killed at least 32 Palestinians.
The Palestinians were killed in Israeli military strikes across Gaza overnight and into this morning, with most casualties reported in northern areas, medics have said.
Among those killed, at least seven died in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza City, according to a statement from the Gaza Civil Defense and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Gaza's civil defence agency also said three aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Hamas-run territory today but the Israeli army said it killed a "terrorist".
The agency said the aid workers killed were Palestinian employees of World Central Kitchen.
The Israeli army previously confirmed that it had killed a WCK employee who it said was a "terrorist" who had taken part in militants' October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
WCK said in a statement it "had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack".
Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the bodies of "at least five dead were transported [to hospital], including [those of] the three employees of World Central Kitchen".
"All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis," Mr Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been "marked with its logo clearly visible".
The Israeli army insisted its strike in the main southern city hit "a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid".
Israel said it had been targeting a "Hamas gunman" in that strike but the military admitted a series of "grave mistakes" and violations of its own rules of engagement.
Hamas publishes video of US-Israeli hostage in Gaza
Palestinian militant group Hamas have published a video of an Israeli-American hostage, in which he pleads for US President-elect Donald Trump to secure his release from captivity.
The family of hostage soldier 20-year-old Edan Alexander declined to comment but permitted the 3-1/2 minute video to be published. Alexander was abducted to Gaza during the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
The video shows a pale-looking Alexander sitting in a dark space against a wall, identifying himself, addressing his family, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Trump. It is unclear whether his statement was scripted by his captors.
Mr Netanyahu said in a statement that the video was cruel psychological warfare and that he had told Mr Alexander's family in a phone call that Israel was working tirelessly to bring the hostages home.
Around half of the 101 foreign and Israeli hostages still held incommunicado in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Hamas leaders are expected to arrive in Cairo today for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials to explore ways to reach a deal that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
The fresh bid comes after Washington said this week it was reviving efforts toward that goal.
The Hostages Families Forum urged the administrations of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and Mr Trump - who takes office in January - to step up efforts in order to secure a hostage release.
"The hostages' lives hang by a thread," it said.
The only ceasefire so far, in November 2023, saw the release of about 100 hostages by Hamas and its allies in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have led multiple failed efforts since the start of the year to reach a new ceasefire and hostage release.
Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza
Israeli military strike skilled at least 40 Palestinians yesterday in Gaza, medics said.
Medics said they had recovered 19 bodies in Nuseirat, one of the Gaza's eight long-standing refugee camps.
Later, an Israeli air strike killed at least ten people in a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, medics said.
Others were killed in the northern and southern areas of Gaza, medics added.
Israeli tanks had entered northern and western areas of Nuseirat on Thursday. They withdrew from northern areas yesterday but remained active in western parts of the camp. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said teams were unable to respond to distress calls from residents trapped in their homes.
Dozens of Palestinians returned to areas where the army had retreated to check on damage to their homes.
Medics said an Israeli drone had killed Ahmed Al-Kahlout, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on the northern edge of Gaza, where the army has been operating since early October.
Contacted by Reuters, the Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike occurring in this location or timeframe.
Kamal Adwan Hospital is one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza that barely function now due to shortages of medical, fuel, and food supplies. Most of its medical staff have been detained or expelled by the Israeli army, health officials say.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and accused Israel of "using the weapon of starvation against the people (in northern Gaza) to displace them from their land and homes."
The Israeli army said forces operating in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia since 5 October aimed to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping and waging attacks from those areas. Residents said the army was depopulating the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun as well as the Jabalia refugee camp.
Ex-minister Yaalon accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in Gaza
Israel's former defence minister Moshe Yaalon has accused the Israeli army of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, sparking an outcry in the country.
"The road we are being led down is conquest, annexation and ethnic cleansing," Mr Yaalon said in an interview on the private Democrat TV channel.
Pressed on the "ethnic cleansing" appraisal, he continued: "What is happening there? There is no more Beit Lahia, no more Beit Hanoun, the army intervenes in Jabalia and in reality the land is being cleared of Arabs."
The north of Gaza, which includes the areas Mr Yaalon mentioned, has been the target of an Israeli offensive since 6 October aimed at preventing the Palestinian militant group Hamas from regrouping.
Mr Yaalon, 74, was the head of the Israeli army between 2002 and 2005, just before Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
He served as defence minister and deputy premier before resigning in 2016 over disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
