Mughrabi and Olivia Le Poidevin CAIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) -Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many who were seeking food aid, local officials said, while the United Nations' children's agency said the scarcity of drinking water was at a crisis point.

Israeli forces have killed 23 Palestinians after opening fire on crowds who had gathered near an aid distribution site, witnesses and medics say. Tanks and drones fired at thousands of people near an aid distribution centre in central Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF),

At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 others injured by Israeli fire as they waited for aid trucks to arrive in Khan Younis in southern Gaza early Tuesday morning, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.