UPDATED: Eight aid-seekers among 22 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza Friday - War on Gaza
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed in a strike in the southern Gaza Strip, and four more when a vehicle was hit in the central area of Deir el-Balah.
Bassal said Israeli forces killed five Palestinians who were trying to return to the Gaza City area, in the territory's north, after word had spread that troops had withdrawn from there.
There was no comment from the Israeli military, which told AFP it could not confirm any of the incidents without specific coordinates for each of them.
The civil defence agency reported deadly fire at Palestinians who were seeking humanitarian aid, in a territory where UN-backed experts have reported that "famine is now unfolding".
Bassal said six people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting near northern Gaza's Zikim crossing, through which aid trucks have entered from Israel in recent weeks.
Israeli fire on a crowd near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza killed two people and wounded 70 others, the civil defence said.
Thousands of Gazans have gathered each day near aid distribution points in Gaza, including the four managed by GHF, whose operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.
According to the UN, at least 1,373 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers as they tried to access food between 27 May and 31 July 2025, including 859 who were in the vicinity of GHF sites.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of goods and aid into Gaza since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago have led to shortages of food and essential goods, including medicine, medical supplies and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators.
The shortages were exacerbated by a more than two-month total blockade on aid imposed by Israel, which began easing the stoppage in late May as GHF was beginning its operations.
The UN says Gaza requires at least 500 trucks of aid per day.
Human Rights Watch on Friday warned that Israeli forces at the distribution sites of the US- and Israeli-backed GHF have routinely opened fire on starving Palestinian civilians in acts that amount to war crimes.
'The dire humanitarian situation is a direct result of Israel's use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war – a war crime – as well as Israel's continued intentional deprivation of aid and basic services, ongoing actions that amount to the crime against humanity of extermination, and acts of genocide,' read the report released Friday.
"The repeated use of lethal force against Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces, without justification, violates both international humanitarian and human rights law.... Regular killings by Israeli forces near GHF sites also amount to war crimes," it added.
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