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Thirty-one Palestinians were killed with more feared dead on Sunday after Israeli troops opened fire at an aid distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Rafah, the territory's health ministry said.
The Israelis shot at hundreds of civilians as they attempted to reach the GHF food centre, with at least 115 other people injured, according to Gaza authorities.
The GHF, which is backed by the US and Israel, recently started operating after Israel relaxed an aid blockade on Gaza in recent days. The UN and other international aid organisations have refused to work with the foundation, saying its operations are an affront to international humanitarian principles.
"There are martyrs and injuries. Many injuries. It is a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points. Enough,” paramedic Abu Tareq said at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis.
Israel's military said it was "unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire within the humanitarian aid distribution site".
"The matter is still under review," it said.
Ismail Al Thawabti, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, described the incident as an "ambush" in comments to The National.
He alleged that “Israel and the US administration are orchestrating these massacres under the pretence of humanitarian relief, killing civilians in cold blood without any legal or international deterrent".
Israel has faced mounting international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN has warned the entire population faces famine. It imposed an aid blockade on the besieged strip in March and has only relaxed it in recent days.
Nearly 20 months into the war, negotiations on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked. A brief truce collapsed in March, and Israel has since intensified operations to “destroy” Hamas.
Aid is now trickling in after Israel partially lifted its blockade, but the UN has reported looting of its lorries and warehouses.
The UN's World Food Programme called on Israel “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”, saying desperation was “contributing to rising insecurity”.
More than 80 WFP lorries entered Gaza loaded with flour on Saturday and were stopped by starving people, a representative for the agency told The National.
“Many of these lorries drove directly into communities and were stopped en route and food was offloaded by hungry people,” the representative said. “But these aid deliveries are nowhere near enough. The fear of starvation remains high.”
The UN representative said the agency needs “to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties and rebuild the trust with communities that more food is coming”.
“To scale up, we need operating conditions to improve – more safe and dependable convoy routes, faster permission approvals, and additional border crossings open.”
The WFP has more than 140,000 tonnes of food, enough to feed the entire population of 2.2 million Gazans for two months, ready to be brought into Gaza.
The wrangling over aid comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday said Hamas had submitted a “totally unacceptable” response to a US-backed ceasefire plan signed off by Israel.
The 60-day truce proposal was presented to Hamas on Thursday and now appears to be in the balance.
Hamas had given a conditional agreement to the plan, sources told The National, with the group's reservations focused on assurances it seeks on Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territory and the distribution of aid.
The US envoy's position towards Hamas was “unfair” and showed “complete bias” towards Israel, the Palestinian group said.
