(MENAFN- Live Mint) A day after a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in the centre of Gaza was looted by desperate Palestinians, around 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the war-torn area on Thursday.

"Forty-four people have been killed in Israeli raids", including 23 in a strike on a home in Al-Bureij, according to news agency AFP, citing Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir.

"Two people were killed and several injured by Israeli forces' gunfire this morning near the American aid centre in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip," Mughayyir added.

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The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported deaths in Al-Bureij and near the aid centre.

Israeli forces had struck "dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip" over the past day, the military said separately.

An attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, by Hamas triggered the Gaza war.

Deepening hunger crisis

Humanitarian aid finally began to trickle back into Gaza after over two months of blockade, but the situation remains dire after 18 months of devastating war.

Starvation is looming for one in five people, said the AFPreport, citing food security experts.

On Wednesday, thousands of desperate Palestinians stormed into a WFP warehouse in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, taking away bags of emergency food supplies as gunshots rang out.

"Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP's Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution," the UN agency said in a statement.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council that aid was entering Gaza by truck -- under limited authorisation by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing -- and accused the UN of "trying to block" GHF's work through "threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate".

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The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is facing intense criticism as it has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.

The UN has said it is doing its utmost to facilitate the distribution of the limited assistance allowed by Israel's authorities.

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