Lotfi Gheith (left), the emergency operations centre director for the Egyptian Red Crescent, briefs United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (center) about items rejected by Israeli authorities that were bound for the Gaza Strip, at El-Arish International Airport in Egypt's northeastern province of North Sinai on March 23, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (PHOTO / AFP)

The United Nations has renewed its call for an immediate cease-fire during a visit to Rafah border crossing on March 23 by the UN chief just as dozens of Palestinian civilians waiting for aid were allegedly killed by Israeli forces.

In the latest incident, at least 19 Palestinians died while 23 others were wounded in an Israeli shelling of a gathering of Palestinians who were waiting for food aid in the south of the city of Gaza.

A report by Al Jazeera citing the Gaza media office reported that the Israeli army and tanks again opened fire using machine guns toward “the hungry people who were waiting for bags of flour and aid in a place far from posing any danger to the occupation”

A report by Al Jazeera citing the Gaza media office reported that the Israeli army and tanks again opened fire using machine guns toward “the hungry people who were waiting for bags of flour and aid in a place far from posing any danger to the occupation”.

Further, Mahmud Basal, the spokesman for the Civil Defence Department in Gaza, said there had been “heavy shooting at civilians” and victims had been transported to a nearby Ahli Arab Hospital.

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The Israeli army has denied the accusations, adding that preliminary findings have determined that there was no aerial strike, nor were there incidents found of forces firing at the people, according to Xinhua News Agency.

At least 112 people were killed and many others injured when Israeli forces opened fire, as hungry and desperate Palestinian civilians were gathering around food aid trucks in Gaza City on Feb 29, drawing widespread condemnation of Israeli atrocities, which Israel partly denied.

In his visit to the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres lamented the “long line of blocked relief trucks” on one side of the gates and the “long shadow of starvation on the other.  He also appealed to Israel for its “ironclad commitment” to allow unhindered aid deliveries.

“That is more than tragic; moral outrage,” Guterres said, adding that “any further onslaught will make everything worse” for Palestinian civilians, hostages and all people of the region.

On Friday, Guterres called for a thorough, independent and credible investigation into a drone footage that appears to show an Israeli attack on four civilians in Gaza, Xinhua reported.

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The UN secretary general also urged the international community to “choose the side of help, the side of hope, and the right side of history” as he vowed “I will not give up”.

Guterres was on an annual "solidarity trip" to Egypt and Jordan, marking the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Last week, a report of the Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, warned of large scale famine if hostilities continued and that an estimated 1.11 million people in the Gaza Strip are expected to face catastrophic conditions, the most severe level on the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale.

The insufficient aid has also affected hostages being held captive by Palestinian resistant movement Hamas.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing Hamas, announced the death of an Israeli hostage because of shortage on food and medicine, Xinhua News Agency reported on March 23. The victim was identified as 34-year-old Israeli man Yigev Bukhatab.

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Hamas had kidnapped more than 200 people from Israel following its surprise attack on the southern part of the country on Oct 7, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel’s launching of its retaliatory attack on a large-scale has claimed more than 32,000 lives to date, according to Palestinian Ministry of Health.

A series of contentious talks of reaching a cease-fire deal have been taking place in recent days. The Times of Israel reported that Israel and Hamas continued their indirect talks.

An Israeli delegation, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, accompanied by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and the Israeli Defense Forces’ point person Nitzan Alon, is back in Doha for talks being mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

One major difference in the gap was reportedly “centered around the number of Palestinian security prisoners Hamas has demanded be freed” to secure the release of female IDF soldiers held hostage in Gaza since the Oct 7 attack.