At least 45 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital.

Palestinians say Israeli forces opened fire on people trying to access a U.S.-backed group's aid distribution hub in Gaza, in the deadliest of such incidents reported to date.

The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people it referred to as suspects who it said had advanced toward its troops hundreds of yards from the aid site prior to its opening hours.