Israel kills 120 in Gaza

• IDF says it fired at people approaching troops
• Israel commits 'extermination' in Gaza by killing in schools: UN experts
• US holds deep doubts about Palestinian state: envoy

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed at least 120 Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, many of them near an aid site operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the centre of the enclave, local health officials said.

Gaza's health ministry said at least 57 people were killed and 363 wounded as they approached a food distribution centre near the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim before dawn.

Israel's military said its forces fired warning shots overnight towards a group of suspects as they posed a threat to troops in the area of the Netzarim Corridor.

Later yesterday, health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip said at least 14 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire as they approached another GHF site in Rafah.

At least 474 people were also injured across Gaza in the past 24 hours, officials in Gaza said.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's offensive on Gaza has killed 55,104 people, mostly civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than two million people. At least 127,394 people have been also injured. 

Most of the population is displaced and malnutrition is widespread.

The UN condemned the killings in Gaza, which it says is "the hungriest place on Earth".

The UN has refused to supply aid via the foundation, which uses private contractors with Israeli military backup in what they say is a breach of humanitarian standards.

Elsewhere in Gaza, its health ministry said at least 11 other people were killed by separate Israeli gunfire and strikes across the coastal enclave yesterday.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the sanctions imposed Tuesday by Britain and other nations against two Israeli cabinet members accused of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians.

Britain's foreign ministry earlier announced that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway have also imposed fresh measures against the ministers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists in a Gaza-bound convoy reached the Libyan capital of Tripoli yesterday as they drive eastward in a bid to break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.

The Soumoud convoy -- meaning steadfastness in Arabic -- set off from Tunis in buses and cars on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt, which organisers say has yet to provide passage permits, to reach Gaza.

It was launched the day Israel intercepted an aid ship also attempting to breach its blockade on Gaza, which was carrying 12 people, including campaigner Greta Thunberg and European parliament member Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan.

Thunberg arrived home in Sweden late Tuesday, after Israel deported her and some other activists.

The land convoy was welcomed by hundreds in Tripoli and escorted through the capital by police patrols.

After 20 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.

Organisers have said a dozen buses and around 100 other vehicles were part of the convoy, adding that they expected the number of participants to grow along the way.

Meanwhile, Israel's defence minister yesterday called on Egypt to block the convoy.

"I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border and not to allow them to carry out provocations or attempt to enter Gaza -- an act that would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed," Israel Katz said in a statement.