UN aid warehouse in Gaza hit by Israeli forces, employee left dead

"At least one UNRWA staff member was killed and another 22 were injured when Israeli forces hit a food distribution centre in the eastern part of Rafah" in southern Gaza, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said in a statement.

The agency's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the "attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine". "With people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day. We need entry points directly into the north," the WFP said.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths lamented the "devastating news" of the strike on the UNRWA centre, saying on social media: "How are we to maintain aid operations when our teams and supplies are constantly under threat?" "They must be protected," he said. "This war has to stop."

Gaza's dire food shortages have killed 27 people through malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

About half a dozen Arab and Western nations have parachuted food into Gaza, and Morocco has sent a planeload of relief supplies via Israel's Ben Gurion airport.

Fahd al-Ghoul, a resident of Jabalia Camp in the north, said: "We have been fasting against our will for two months or more."

"NNow with Ramadan, nothing changes in our reality," the 50-year-old added.