AN INTERNATIONAL aid group paused food deliveries at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip today, citing safety concerns after a series of deadly shootings near its centres this week.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israel-approved body, said the temporary suspension was to “renovate” the sites and to hold discussions with the Israeli military over improving safety measures for Palestinians accessing aid.

The move came as Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that at least 95 Palestinians had been killed and 440 injured in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, including strikes on schools and refugee camps.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces admitted to opening fire as crowds approached a GHF distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, now declared a closed military zone by Israel and is off-limits to independent media.

According to Gaza health officials, the Red Cross and the UN human rights office, 27 people were killed in that incident alone. Witnesses have blamed Israeli troops.

The Israeli army claimed that it had fired warning shots at individuals it deemed “suspicious” for approaching its positions.

Hospital officials said that at least 80 Palestinians have been killed while heading to, or near, the aid sites since they opened last week. Dozens died in similar shootings on Sunday and Monday.

Israel and the United States both support a new, limited aid system, which they say is designed to prevent Hamas from supposedly stealing supplies and selling them to fund military activity.

But Israel has not accused Hamas of operating near the GHF distribution sites.

The United Nations, which has refused to participate in the new system, condemned it for violating humanitarian principles by placing the aid operation under Israeli control and forcing Palestinians to travel to just three central locations, two of which are in Rafah.

It denies there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, saying it has mechanisms to prevent that.

“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said.

The UN security council was due to vote today — after the Morning Star went to print — on a resolution demanding “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties.”

Diplomats said that the United States was likely to veto the measure.

Meanwhile, the Madleen — a vessel launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) — is en route to Gaza and expected to arrive on June 7.

The ship is carrying humanitarian aid including medical supplies, flour, rice, baby formula, nappies, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, crutches and children’s prosthetics.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is among 12 passengers on board attempting to break Israel’s 17-year blockade of the Strip.

The FFC today called for international support after drones were seen hovering above the ship.

“It’s time for world governments to step up. Demand they protect their citizens on board the Madleen and stop enabling Israel’s war crimes. Safe passage is a legal obligation, and a moral one,” the group posted on X.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) president Mirjana Spoljaric described the crisis in Gaza as “worse than hell on Earth” in an interview with the BBC.

Palestinians, she said, have been stripped of their human dignity, and international humanitarian law is being systematically eroded.

“What is happening in Gaza,” she warned, “surpasses any acceptable legal, moral and humane standard.”