GAZA: Gaza's civil defence agency said Zionist forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, several of them in a shooting incident near a US-backed aid distribution centre in the territory's south. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), "six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout" in southern Gaza's Rafah area. Gazans have massed at Al-Alam almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid at a centre about one kilometre (0.6 miles) away, operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

"As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians," Abu Hadid said. Contacted by AFP, the military said it was looking into the incident, the latest deadly fire near the Al-Alam aid point.

The GHF began operations in late May as Zionists partially eased a more than two-month blockade on the Gaza Strip. The United Nations, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF over neutrality concerns, has warned that Gaza's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of starvation. In the territory's north early Saturday, Bassal said seven people were killed in a Zionist airstrike that hit a house near Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital. The military said it was looking into the report.= AFP