Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on Sunday, killing 67 people and wounding dozens more.

The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed the border from Israel and cleared checkpoints.

Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City.

Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres.

The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said six others were killed on Sunday near an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah, where........

© International Business Times