Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port  —AP

AP Deir al-Balah (Gaza Strip)

At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to local health officials. The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli-and US-supported humanitarian group in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have fired on the crowds, while the military says it has only fired warning shots near people it describes as suspects who approached its forces. The military did not respond to a request for comment on the latest shootings. The sites are located in military zones that are off limits to independent media.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed Saturday. But witnesses said thousands had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel’'s blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine.

The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza.Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowd about a kilometre from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday. It said three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone.

Israel and the US say the new system is intended to replace a UN-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities. UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs.