GAZA, July 23 (AFP): Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 17 people in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, as Israel's military said it was pressing on with its operations against Hamas militants.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people-including a pregnant woman-were killed in a single strike at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday) in Gaza City's Tel Al-Hawa neighbourhood.
Two others died in separate strikes in the city, three in the southern town of Bani Suheila, and four near a food distribution centre in central Gaza, he added.
Israel's military said troops were "deepening their operational activity" in the Gaza City area and the north, including the Jabaliya area.
"Over the past day, the troops dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and located weapons in the southern Gaza Strip," a statement read.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
Hundreds of people have been killed while trying to reach or waiting near aid distribution centres in central Gaza near the Wadi Gaza river.
The centre is run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which started distributing food in late May after Israel lifted a full blockade.
Over 100 humanitarian groups warned that the trickle of aid entering Gaza is causing widespread hunger, while the head of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital said Tuesday that 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation over the past three days.
GHF and Israel argue that food and aid are entering Gaza but that the UN and other NGOs cannot deliver them to Palestinians.
More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza ahead of the US top envoy's visit to Europe for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people face severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict, triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel.
The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May-effectively sidelining the existing UN-led system.
A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that "our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away".
The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.
It came a day after the United States said its envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on Gaza and may then visit the Middle East.
Witkoff comes with "a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
Even after Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade in late May, Gaza's population is still suffering extreme scarcities.
Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid.
In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods.
"Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions," the signatories said.
"It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage," they added.
