Mughrabi and Olivia Le Poidevin CAIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) -Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many who were seeking food aid, local officials said, while the United Nations' children's agency said the scarcity of drinking water was at a crisis point.

At least 12 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while waiting for aid in central Gaza, according to rescuers and medics. Reports say the group was killed by gunfire near an aid distribution site run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on Thursday.

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.