EIGHT more Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli military and dozens wounded today while approaching aid distribution centres to seek food, after 11 were killed seeking aid on Saturday.

Witnesses said crowds of Palestinians were headed towards two aid centres in Rafah when Israeli soldiers began firing indiscriminately into them at dawn today. One Palestinian who fled the scene told reporters, “There were wounded, dead and martyred; it’s a trap.”

The deaths are the latest among hundreds killed in a similar way since Israel handed distribution of aid to the US firm the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which the UN says has politicised access. Palestinians must travel long distances to reach the limited number of distribution centres, all in the extreme south of Gaza, while the Israeli military shoots people walking in the vicinity outside opening hours. Food and medicine is otherwise blocked from Gaza by the Israeli blockade.

Egypt continues to obstruct the Global March to Gaza, an international humanitarian mission which aims to march to the Gaza border and try to get aid through. Organisers say police have injured some marchers, while others have been detained and some deported. Activists are still attempting to gather in Egypt and cross the Sinai desert to draw global attention to Israel’s systematic starvation of Gaza’s civilian population.

Israel conducted more air raids over Gaza across the weekend, killing at least another 20 Palestinians. Sixteen were killed by bombs dropped on Khan Younis and four in Deir al-Balah.

Over 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, following a Hamas raid on Israel that killed 1,139 people.