AT least 34 Palestinians have been killed and several others wounded by Israeli fire while waiting for humanitarian aid in central and southern Gaza Strip, hospital sources told Al Jazeera.
At least 82 Palestinians were killed across Gaza by the Israeli army on Friday, sources said, including several in an attack where jets bombed a house west of Deir el-Balah.
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At least 37 people were killed in central Gaza, of whom 23 were aid seekers; another 23 people were killed in Gaza City; and 22 people were killed in the south of Gaza, 11 of whom were aid seekers, hospital sources said.
Israeli attacks on hungry Palestinians near aid centres have killed hundreds of people since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started distributions on May 27.
The shadowy Israeli- and United States-backed group tasked with distributing aid supplies has been criticised by the United Nations for its “failure” to ensure the safe delivery of supplies in Gaza, where aid agencies have warned that the entire population is facing the threat of famine after Israel imposed a total blockade from early March to late May.
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Ismail al-Thawabta, the director-general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, said on Thursday that the total number of aid seekers killed stood at 409, and 3,203 more had been injured.
UNICEF warned the Gaza Strip was also facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapsed.
“Children will begin to die of thirst,” spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva on Friday. “Just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional.”
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The UN agency warned that the GHF distribution system was “making a desperate situation worse”.
Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries.
