• Civil defense official says 31 people killed while gathered near aid distribution centers

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed Friday by Israeli forces, the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered there daily in the hope of receiving food rations, as famine looms across Gaza after more than 20 months of war.

The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in the Netzarim area had first fired “warning shots” at “suspects” approaching them.

When the individuals continued advancing, “an aircraft struck and eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat,” the army said.

Similar incidents have occurred in that area regularly since late May, when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened its distribution centers, as Israel eased a two-month aid blocakde.

The privately run foundation’s operations in Gaza have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Elsewhere in the territory on Friday, Bassal said 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area.

One of those strikes, which killed three people, hit a phone charging station in the city, Bassal said.

In southern Gaza, two people were killed “by Israeli gunfire” in two separate incidents, he added.

Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.

The armed wing of Palestinian miliant group, Al-Quds Brigades, said on Friday it had targeted an Israeli military post in the southern city of Khan Yunis, claiming “dead and wounded” Israeli troops as a result.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not comment.

Much of Khan Yunis, like vast areas across Gaza, is under Israeli military evacuation orders.

AFP