Forty of the dead were shot or struck on Wednesday, including 14 people hit while waiting for aid trucks on the Salahuddin highway in central Gaza, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Israeli military said troops in the nearby Nuseirat area fired warning shots after “individuals approached in a threatening manner” and that it had no reports of casualties.
Separate raids on homes in Maghazi camp, Gaza City’s Zeitoun district and Khan Younis killed at least 26 people, according to hospital staff, while shelling continued across the enclave of 2.3 million.
Gaza’s ministry says 397 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 wounded while trying to collect food since Israel eased its blockade in late May.
“People risk their lives for a sack of flour and die with it in their hands, but the world is now watching Iran,” said Adel, a resident of Gaza City, speaking by messaging app.
Israel says it channels aid through the new US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private American security firms and keeps distribution points under Israeli guard to stop supplies reaching Hamas.
UN Palestinian-refugee chief Philippe Lazzarini called the arrangement "a disgrace and a stain on our collective conscience."
The World Food Program said it had moved 9,000 tons of food into Gaza over the past four weeks – “a tiny fraction” of what is needed – and urged an immediate scale-up.
“Any violence that leaves starving people dead or wounded while seeking aid is unacceptable,” it said.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s ground and air offensive has since killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, Gaza’s ministry says, displaced almost the entire population and pushed parts of the territory to the brink of famine.
Israel says it is dismantling Hamas while taking “feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."
Hamas denies stealing aid and accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon.
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Source: Reuters, AP News, The Guardian