Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 72 people yesterday, including 21 who had gathered near aid distribution sites as famine looms after more than 20 months of war.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that six people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 15 others in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations.
In northern Gaza, Bassal said that nine separate Israeli strikes killed another 51 people, updating earlier tolls provided by his agency.
At least 300 Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid distribution points in Gaza, which is suffering from famine-like conditions.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has condemned the ongoing and utterly unacceptable violence against starving Palestinians attempting to access humanitarian aid in the besieged Gaza Strip.