At least 56 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 21 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine.
The 20 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
"Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari.
UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it.
Authorities in Gaza say more than 22,000 humanitarian aid trucks are waiting outside the Strip, as an average of 84 trucks have entered the besieged enclave since Israel somewhat eased restrictions on 27 July.
Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements -the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war.
At least 180 people have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip, including 93 children. The death toll, however, is expected to be higher.