JERUSALEM — At least 22 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire near aid distribution sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC that it was examining the reports.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to get food from the GHF sites, opened by Israel after it partially lifted a three-month blockade which the UN said had pushed the Gazan population to the brink of starvation.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said: "Israel's means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza."

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, he accused Israel of weaponizing food and repeated his call for a full investigation into the attacks near the sites. UN agencies have refused to work with the GHF.

On several previous occasions the IDF has acknowledged that its troops opened fire near aid sites.

The health ministry said 20 were killed on Monday at the GHF center at al-Alam in the southern city of Rafah, while rescuers reported two killed at a GHF site in the central Netzarim corridor.

Many of those killed and injured at al-Alam were taken to Nasser hospital in nearby Khan Younis, where relatives gathered. Many were buried in the hours after their arrival, in line with Islamic tradition.

Ahmed Alfara, a doctor at the hospital, told the Reuters news agency that the distribution system had failed "100%".

"No one can get that distribution, that aid, no one can get it," he said.

"We have to recognise that [UN humanitarian agency] Unrwa and NGOs must again get that distribution and try to redistribute it for the Palestinian people."

He reported that many of the casualties on Monday had suffered gunshot wounds, including to the head.

Ahmed Fayad, who attempted to get food from the GHF site on Monday, described the GHF operation as a "trap".

"We went there thinking we would get aid to feed our children, but it turned out to be a trap, a killing. I advise everyone: don't go there," he told Reuters.

Al-Alam has been the scene of several similar deadly incidents since the new Israeli-backed food distribution system began operating.

Before Monday's incident, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said that at least 300 people had been killed and more than 2,600 wounded near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza on 26 May.

The IDF has contested the death toll and said Hamas had caused much of the violence.

Israel does not allow international news organizations including the BBC into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry. — BBC