At least 25 people have been killed after Israeli forces opened fire towards people waiting for aid trucks in Gaza, according to witnesses and hospitals.

The Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on a road south of Wadi Gaza.

Witnesses told the Associated Press (AP) news agency Israeli forces opened fire as people were advancing to be close to the approaching trucks.

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The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them were 62 in a critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza, it added.

In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the same incident.

“It was a massacre,” one witness, Ahmed Halawa, said.

He said tanks and drones fired at people, “even as we were fleeing – many people were either martyred or wounded”.

Another witness, Hossam Abu Shahada, said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds. Then there was gunfire from tanks and drones, leaving a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people attempted to escape.

He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and many others wounded as he fled.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reports.

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Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, described the aid delivery mechanism in Gaza as “an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people”.

He added: “It is a death trap, costing more lives than it saves.”

A spokesperson for the UN’s Human Rights Office said: “The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law.”

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Around 56,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry says more than half of the dead were women and children, but does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, when militants stormed across the border and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza early Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian witnesses and hospitals said.

Responding to an Associated Press inquiry, the military said it was reviewing reports of casualties from Israeli fire after a group of people approached troops in an area adjunct to the east-west Netzarim corridor, which bisects Gaza.

The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, which received the victims, said the Palestinians were waiting for the trucks on the Salah al-Din Road south of Wadi Gaza.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire as people were advancing eastward to be close to the approaching trucks.

“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa. He said tanks and drones fired at people, “even as we were fleeing. Many people were either martyred or wounded.”

Hossam Abu Shahada, another eyewitness, said drones were flying over the area, watching the crowds first, then there was gunfire from tanks and drones as people were moving eastward. He described a “chaotic and bloody” scene as people were attempting to escape.

He said he saw at least three people lying on the ground motionless and many others wounded as he fled the site.

The Awda hospital said another 146 Palestinians were wounded. Among them were 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to other hospitals in central Gaza, it said.

In the central town of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the same incident.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food, killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

The deaths were the latest in Israel-Hamas war in Gaza which killed about 56,000 Palestinians, according to the strip’s health ministry.

The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but say more than a half of the dead were women and children.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages.

Most of the hostages were released by ceasefire agreements.

Israeli forces and drones have reportedly killed dozens in the latest attacks on people seeking aid in Gaza.

The violence, carried out as Palestinians waited for aid at distribution sites across the enclave on Tuesday, may have killed as many as 50 people in total, according to Palestinian health workers and witnesses, although figures remain unverified.

The killings are the latest in a wave of daily carnage near aid distribution points established late last month by the controversial Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) has labelled a “death trap”.

Sources in Gaza hospitals told Al Jazeera that up to 50 people had been killed by Israeli fire near aid distribution centres since dawn, along with 21 others across the territory.

Medical sources reported that at least 25 people were killed in an incident on Salah al-Din Street south of Wadi Gaza in central Gaza, according to The Associated Press news agency. More than 140 other people were injured, 62 of them critically.

Footage posted on social media site Instagram, and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency, showed bodies being brought to al-Awda Hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp.

Similar scenes were reported from the Nasser Medical Complex to the south in Khan Younis, following unverified reports that the Israeli army had targeted people waiting for aid on al-Tina Street.

People approaching an aid point in Gaza City were also killed, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from the city in the north of the territory, as well as Rafah in the south.

“Casualties were brought to various health facilities, including al-Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City],” he said. “The emergency ward there turned into a bloodbath, and many died waiting for medical care.”

Witnesses told AP that Israeli forces had opened fire as people were approaching the aid trucks.

“It was a massacre,” said Ahmed Halawa, reporting that tanks and drones had fired “even as we were fleeing”.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing reports of casualties from fire by its troops after a group of people approached soldiers in an area near the militarised Netzarim Corridor.

Israel has said that previous shootings near GHF aid sites have been provoked by the approach of “suspects” towards soldiers.

Witnesses and humanitarian groups have said that many of the shootings took place without warning.

‘Death trap’

The killing of aid seekers has become an almost daily occurrence since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) took over the distribution of food and other vital supplies.

The foundation launched its aid distribution programme in late May after Israel had completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, prompting warnings of mass famine.

The United Nations has refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs, and condemned it for its “weaponisation” of aid.

The GHF distribution sites have been plagued by scenes of chaos and carnage. More than 400 people have been killed and 1,000 wounded by Israeli soldiers since the GHF aid rollout began.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that the system for aid distribution in Gaza was “an abomination”.

“The newly created so-called aid mechanism is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people,” said at a news conference in Berlin. “It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves.”

In a letter published on Monday, the International Commission of Jurists — a human rights NGO of prominent lawyers and judges — joined 14 other groups in condemning the GHF and calling for “an end to private militarized humanitarian aid operations in Gaza”.

Philip Grant, executive director of Geneva-based NGO TRIAL International, said GHF’s model of militarised and privatised aid delivery “violates core humanitarian principles”.

He added that those who enabled or profited from the GHF’s work faced a “real risk of prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including the forcible transfer of civilians and the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare”.