GAZA — Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinians seeking food aid south of Gaza City on Sunday, according to local hospitals and witnesses, as famine tightens its grip on the enclave and the military prepares for a full-scale offensive in the north.

Al-Awda Hospital confirmed receiving the bodies of four men killed near the Netzarim corridor, an area frequently used by displaced Palestinians trying to reach food distribution points.

Witnesses said the crowd had approached a site run by the Israeli-backed American contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) when troops opened fire.

“The gunfire was indiscriminate,” said Mohamed Abed, a father of two from the Bureij refugee camp. “People fell to the ground as we ran for our lives.” Another aid seeker, Aymed Sayyad, said two wounded Palestinians were carried away after being shot.

The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately comment on the incident.

The latest killings add to a growing toll of Palestinians shot while seeking aid. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 2,000 people have been killed and 13,500 wounded along aid routes or at distribution points since the start of the war in October 2023.

The ministry on Sunday also reported that 62,686 Palestinians have been killed in the war, with nearly half of the victims being women and children.

The number of confirmed malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 289, including 115 children.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed authority on hunger, declared Friday that famine is already occurring in Gaza City and could spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by next month unless fighting stops and aid flows dramatically increase.

Residents of Jabaliya refugee camp north of Gaza City said they endured “non-stop explosions” overnight as Israeli forces intensified bombardments and advanced with tanks and weaponized robots.

“They want it like Rafah,” said displaced resident Ossama Matter, describing neighborhoods reduced to rubble. Teacher Salim Dhaher, who fled westward, said he feared the assault aimed to “destroy everything above the ground and force the transfer” of civilians.

Israel has mobilized tens of thousands of reservists for the looming operation, saying Gaza City remains a Hamas stronghold with a vast network of tunnels. Despite repeated evacuation orders, aid groups say hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in the city, unwilling or unable to leave.

International mediators are waiting for Israel’s response to a new ceasefire proposal that Hamas has said it accepted. — Agencies