Twin Israeli attacks kill 29 besieged Palestinians awaiting aid in Gaza

Israel has killed at least 29 Palestinians while awaiting aid in two separate attacks in besieged Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the coastal enclave said.

In the first incident on Thursday, eight Palestinians were killed in an air strike on an aid distribution centre in Al Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

Later, at least 21 people were killed and more than 155 wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, authorities said.

In Deir al Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house on Thursday, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said.

In what has become an Israeli ritual now, Israel's military denied attacking aid centres in a statement.

Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments persisted overnight across the enclave, including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

Israel's carnage in Gaza

Israel's relentless bombing has displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million population. Chaotic scenes and deadly incidents have taken place during aid distributions as desperately hungry people scrambled for food.

On February 29, Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Tel Aviv, as usual absolved itself from the crime, and blamed victims for their deaths.

Israel's air, sea and ground invasion on Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people and wounded over 71,500, since October last year.

With the war now in its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza — one quarter of the population — are on t he brink of starvation and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access.