55 Palestinians killed in latest Israeli airstrikes

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage from Gaza, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Saturday, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics.

Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on Saturday it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza's dominant resistance group denied.

The military said Saturday it had killed As'ad Abu Sharaiya, who served as the head of the Mujahideen, but there was no confirmation from the group.

Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave Saturday.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip.

The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media.

The Israeli military later warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.

The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3mn people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations.

The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations for alleged lack of neutrality, said in a statement it intended to resume aid distribution "without delay".

A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such "alleged threats”.

The Israeli military said Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.