Gaza faces man-made drought as water systems collapse, UNICEF says

Gaza is veneer a semisynthetic drouth as its irrigate systems burst, the United Nations' children agency said, as Israeli fire killed more than 40 Palestinians across the territory on Friday.

"Children will begin to die of thirst ... Just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities remain functional," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva.

"We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza," he added.

UNICEF also reported a 50 per cent increase in children aged six months to five years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry.

It said the U.S.-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was "making a desperate situation worse."

On Friday, Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom had been trying to get food, local officials said.

At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run local health authority said.

Asked by Reuters about the incident, the Israel Defence Force said its troops had fired warning shots at suspected militants who advanced in a crowd toward them.

An Israeli aircraft then "struck and eliminated the suspects," it said in a statement, adding that it was aware of others being hurt in the incident and was conducting a review.

Separately, Gazan medics said at least 19 others were killed in other Israeli military strikes across the enclave, including 12 people in a house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, bringing Friday's total death toll to at least 44.

In a statement on Friday, Hamas, which says Israel is using hunger as a weapon against the population of Gaza, accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinians seeking food aid across the enclave. Israel denies this and accuses Hamas of stealing food aid, which the group denies.

Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries.

He said a lack of public clarity on when the sites, some of which are in combat zones, were open was causing mass casualty events.

"There have been instances where information [was] shared that a site is open, but then it's communicated on social media that they're closed," he said. "But that information was shared when Gaza's internet was down and people had no access to it."

On Wednesday, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed three million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident.

Gaza water plant running on backup power as Israel cuts electricity

The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than two million and causing a severe hunger crisis.

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