ISRAELI forces killed at least 41 people in Gaza today, including 20 seeking food aid as famine stalks the strip.

Over 22,000 aid lorries are stuck at the borders of the blockaded territory, with Israel only allowing a trickle of aid in. Gaza hospitals reported six new deaths from hunger, bringing the total to 181 including 94 children, as the UN World Food Programme said every child in Gaza under five was now at risk of malnutrition.

Besides direct deaths from hunger, over 800 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops while trying to access aid from the US company the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Israel has put in charge of food distribution.

Both Israel and Hamas claim their adversary is using starvation as a weapon of war, following Hamas and Islamic Jihad releasing videos of emaciated hostages.

Israel and European governments condemned the videos, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Hamas was starving hostages “like the Nazis starved the Jews.”

Hamas said the hostages are fed the same rations as its fighters and their hunger is a consequence of Israel’s blockade on food imports to Gaza, where most food production has ended due to Israel’s invasion.

Though Mr Netanyahu claimed the videos showed Hamas “does not want a deal,” pressure for a ceasefire in Israel has risen since the videos’ release, with families of hostages saying the ongoing war puts their relatives in danger of starving to death.

Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv demanding a ceasefire on Saturday night.

The prospect of food being delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is now being discussed. The organisation says it has not previously been granted access to the hostages, but Mr Netanyahu has asked that it help get food to them.

Hamas’s military wing said it would be open to such an arrangement — on condition that humanitarian corridors for food aid to Palestinians be opened “in a regular and permanent manner.”

The charity’s Palestinian wing, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said on Sunday that one of its aid workers was killed by an Israeli attack on its Gaza HQ.