Israel continues Gaza attacks with 57 reported killed

Five people were killed near two aid distribution sites on Sunday

Mourners pray for a Palestinian killed near Rafah by what Gaza health officials said was Israel fire. Reuters

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Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed at least 57 people in the past day, health officials said on Sunday, as Israel continues to attack the strip despite its continuing conflict with Iran.

Gaza's Health Ministry said the latest deaths took the total to at least 5,071 since Israel resumed its operations in mid-March, ending a two-month ceasefire. Eight more bodies of people killed in earlier attacks were also recovered.

At least five people were killed on Sunday near aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to health authorities.

Medics at Al Awda Hospital in central Gaza said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the Netzarim corridor. Two others were reported killed en route to another aid site in Rafah in the south.

A separate air strike killed seven people in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a near three-month total blockade. Scores of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily shootings trying to reach the food.

The UN rejects the Israeli-backed distribution system as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian principles.

The Israeli army meanwhile said on Sunday that a soldier had been killed in battle in Gaza a day earlier, as its war with Hamas enters its 20th month.

The army said Noam Shemesh, 21, from Jerusalem, "fell during combat" in the south of Gaza. About 430 soldiers have been killed since Israel's ground operation in Gaza began in late October 2023.

The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after Hamas-led militants raided Israel, took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on October 7, 2023, Israel's single deadliest day.

Israel's military campaign since has killed more than 55,362 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two million people. Most of the population is displaced, and malnutrition is widespread.

Despite efforts by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar to restore a ceasefire in Gaza, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.