AT least 34 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Monday near food distribution centres in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centres run by the US and Israeli-backed private contractor, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Two witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire early on Monday in an attempt to control the crowds.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. In previous instances, it has said that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions.
Gaza’s health ministry said most of the dead were trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah, though a few were on the roads to a newly opened hub on the outskirts of the nearby city of Khan Younis.
Two Palestinians trying to get food at the Rafah site, Heba Jouda and Mohammed Abed, told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired on the crowds at about 4am at the flag roundabout.
The roundabout, hundreds of metres from the GHF centre, has repeatedly been the scene of shootings.
The military has designated specific routes to access the food centres, and GHF has warned aid-seekers that leaving the roads is dangerous, but many do in an attempt to get to the food first.
Israel and the United States claim the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid.
GHF claims there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves.
UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since Israel's assault on the enclave intensified 20 months ago, have condemned the new system and have refused to take part in it, saying it cannot meet the territory’s needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.
They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas.
Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month.
Experts have warned that Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some two million Palestinians, at risk of famine.
The UN's human rights chief, Volker Turk, condemned Israel's conduct around the aid centres.
Presenting his annual report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, he said Israel's "means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza".
He added: "Israel has weaponised food and blockaded lifesaving aid.
"I urge immediate, impartial investigations into deadly attacks on desperate civilians to reach food distribution centres.
"Disturbing, de-humanising rhetoric from senior Israeli government officials is reminiscent of the gravest of crimes."
