Since the establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at the end of May, at least 1,568 aid seekers have been killed by Israeli fire while trying to access desperately needed aid.
The count includes five people who starved to death in the past 24 hours, it said, raising the hunger-related death toll to 193, including 96 children.
Three bodies were also recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the ministry statement said on Telegram.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a total of 61,158 Palestinians and injured 151,442 since October 7, 2023, the ministry added.
At least 31 people have been killed by Israeli fire since dawn, medical sources have told Al Jazeera. Among the dead, 10 aid seekers were killed in various areas of the enclave, despite the Israeli army’s announcement of “tactical pauses” in fighting for aid distribution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced pushback from the head of the military over his proposal to seize remaining areas of Gaza that it doesn’t already control during a tense three-hour meeting, Reuters reports, citing three unnamed Israeli officials.
The military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, warned the prime minister that taking the rest of Gaza could trap the military in the territory, which it withdrew from two decades ago, and could lead to harm to the hostages being held there, the sources briefed on the meeting said.
The UN has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.
Netanyahu, who favours an expansion of military operations, told Zamir that so far the military had failed to bring about the release of the hostages, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Diplomatic negotiations have secured the release of most hostages freed so far. A fourth source said that the prime minister intended to expand military operations in Gaza to put pressure on Hamas.