Israel kills 22 in Gaza, including 13 shot dead waiting to collect food aid

Gaza's civil defence agency has said that Israeli attacks killed at least 22 people on Saturday.

According to the agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and in the south.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that conditions in the Zeitun neighbourhood in Gaza City were rapidly deteriorating, with residents having little to no access to food and water due to heavy Israeli bombardment. He said Israel were carrying out ethnic cleansing there. 

Bassal said about 50,000 people are estimated to be in the area, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life".

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to sieze control of Gaza City, one of the most densely populated parts of the territory.

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