At least 21 people died, according to Palestinian health officials, with more than half of the victims being women and children.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest independent aid organisations in Gaza, told Reuters on Tuesday its supplies were exhausted and some of its staff starving, and the group accused Israel of paralysing its work.

The joint statement comes as Palestinians face worsening starvation, daily massacres at "aid sites" and the ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance.

The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) on Tuesday said its estimates show 1,000 starving people have been reported killed while seeking aid in Gaza since end-May. UNRWA staff members as well as doctors and humanitarian workers were fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion,

Documents attesting to the refugee status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were taken out of Gaza in the early months of the war and stored safely in Jordan. Le Monde tells the story of this previously unreported secret operation.

MK Benny Gantz defends Israel’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza, accuses UNRWA of spreading falsehoods and aiding Hamas influence over aid distribution.

Open the gates, lift the siege, allow UNRWA to do its work and help people in need among them 1 million children,' says agency for Palestinian refugees - Anadolu Ajansı

This week, Israeli lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that would cut ties with the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and declare it a terrorist entity.

UNRWA, United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, provides far more than humanitarian aid. “The impact on the ground will be horrible,” a leading Palestinian lawmaker told NBC News.

The head of a UN office in the Gaza Strip has described an aid distribution scheme run by a rival organization as a "sadistic death trap. " Philippe Lazzarini is the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),