At least 8 killed by Israeli gunfire at Gaza aid distribution site

Eight Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces while waiting for aid in southern Gaza on Monday morning, the latest in a string of mass killings of Palestinian aid seekers in recent days.

The victims were part of a crowd of people waiting to receive food from a facility operated by the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded on Sunday in a similar incident at the Rafah site. The Israeli military acknowledged it had opened fire and caused injuries, but did not specify how many people it believed were hurt.

The army has not yet commented on the reports of shooting on Monday.

More than 100 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces near food distribution sites since late May, when GHF began operations inside Gaza.

GHF is an Israel- and US-backed organisation attempting to circumvent the United Nations-led humanitarian effort. The UN and other relief agencies have refused to work with it, saying that it is helping Israel to achieve its military objectives.

Hundreds of others have been injured in the violence. The Red Cross said on Sunday it had received 933 patients over the past two weeks, the "overwhelming majority" of whom had been trying to reach food distribution sites.

Its Rafah field hospital has had to declare a mass casualty incident 12 times due to the high numbers of patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, it said.

GHF has consistently denied reports of violence at its sites, but paused its operations last week to make "improvements".

The organisation currently operates only a handful of facilities, forcing Palestinians to travel long distances to receive food. Aid groups say the system is designed to facilitate the mass displacement of Palestinians.

GHF said it would open three new distribution sites on Monday, two in the Rafah area and one in central Gaza. This will mean that most of its centres will be concentrated in the far south of the enclave, with none serving Gaza City and the north.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini has described the system as a "death trap" for civilians and called on the Israeli government to fully lift the blockade and allow aid agencies to distribute it freely.

Israel last month eased its 11-week siege and began allowing the entry of small amounts of aid following international outcry at its imposition of starvation conditions on the strip. The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as a "drop in the ocean".

Israel claims to have recovered body of Hamas Gaza leader

Israel said on Sunday it had recovered the body of Hamas's leader in Gaza, Mohamed Sinwar, who it says was killed in a strike on a hospital last month.

The Israeli military claimed his body was found in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Sinwar is the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of Hamas in Gaza, who was killed by the Israeli army in Rafah in October.

The military said last month it had targeted Sinwar in a large strike on what it alleged was a Hamas "command and control centre" underneath the hospital.

The airstrike killed at least 28 Palestinians and injured more than 50 others.