CAIRO/GENEVA – Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many of whom had been trying to get food, local officials said, while the United Nations’ children’s agency warned of a looming man-made drought in the enclave as its water systems collapse.

At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run local health authority said.

Asked by Reuters about the incident, the Israel Defense Force said its troops had fired warning shots at suspected militants who advanced in a crowd towards them.

An Israeli aircraft then “struck and eliminated the suspects”, it said in a statement, adding that it was aware of others being hurt in the incident and was conducting a review.

Separately, Gazan medics said at least 19 others were killed in other Israeli military strikes across the enclave, including 12 people in a house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, taking Friday’s total death toll to at least 44.

Hamas Accuses Israel of Targeting Food Seekers

In a statement on Friday, the Islamist Hamas group, which says Israel is using hunger as a weapon against the population of Gaza, accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinians seeking food aid across the enclave. Israel denies this and accuses Hamas of stealing food aid, which the group denies.

Meanwhile UNICEF, the U.N.’s children’s agency, warned in Geneva of drought conditions developing in Gaza.

“Children will begin to die of thirst … Just 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters. “We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water.”

UNICEF also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to 5 years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry.

Dangerous Aid Distribution Routes

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.

A lack of public clarity on when the sites – some of which are in combat zones – are open is causing mass casualty events, he added.

The route near Netzarim has become dangerous since the start of a new U.S.-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), witnesses told Reuters, with desperate Gazans heading to a designated area late at night to try and get something from aid supplies due to be handed out after dawn.

The route has also been used by aid trucks sent by the United Nations and aid groups, and people have also been heading there in the hope of grabbing bags off trucks.

UNICEF said GHF was “making a desperate situation worse”.

On Thursday, at least 70 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip.

Red Cross Reports Surge in Aid-Related Injuries

In an email to Reuters, GHF accused Gazan health officials of regularly releasing inaccurate information. It said Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. The statement did not address a question about whether GHF was aware of Thursday’s incident.

The GHF said in a statement on Thursday it had so far distributed nearly three million meals across three of its aid sites without incident.

The Red Cross told Reuters that the “vast majority” of patients that arrived at its Field Hospital during mass casualty incidents had reported that they were wounded while trying to access aid, at or around aid distribution points.

Between May 27 and Thursday, the aid group received 1,874 patients wounded by weapons, according to Red Cross figures.

The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis.

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(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)