Jerusalem: The newly started US and Israel-backed group that is distributing aid in Gaza announced that it has closed its distribution centres in the enclave under further notice, citing deadly shootings near them. Israel meanwhile killed ten Palestinians in tank fire on Friday, Reuters reported.
Reuters says that the Israeli military has not immediately commented on the deaths, which happened in Jabalia, the northern region of the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which suspended its aid distribution, advised Gazans to stay away from its aid distribution centres, citing the series of shootings.
It was last week that GHF started operations in the war-torn enclave. It opened two sites in southern Gaza on Thursday while closing the previous centres. So far, the organisation has opened four centres.
UN, as well as other humanitarian organisations, had criticised the Israel-led organisation for its lack of neutrality since it bypasses traditional relief agencies.
After a series of shootings in three successive days, GHF had stopped distributions on Wednesday. Dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah distribution centre of the organisation. Israeli strikes across the territory, meanwhile, killed 26 people overnight and into Wednesday.
Israel's military had claimed that it had fired warning shots on Sunday and Monday. They fired at Palestinians, after warning shots, who advanced towards security troops, it claimed.
At least 80 people have been killed in the vicinity of the sites or heading to them since they opened last week, according to hospital officials, including dozens in similar shootings at roughly the same location on Sunday and Monday, when the military also said it had fired warning shots, the Associated Press reported.