The Israeli military is again advancing into Gaza and has blocked most aid, causing widespread hunger. A new but widely criticized system for getting in relief started operating last week.

Dozens were feared dead and scores wounded Sunday after the Israel Defense Forces opened fire on a group receiving food from a collection point in the Gaza Strip, according to hospital officials and witnesses on the ground. The reports were vigorously denied by the organization charged with distributing aid.

The embattled Israeli-backed aid group that began operating in Gaza earlier this week is not screening Palestinians at aid distribution sites, despite Israeli officials saying that additional security measures were a core reason for the creation of the new program.

A U.S.- and Israeli-backed private organization is overhauling the aid distribution system in Gaza. The United Nations says it undermines humanitarian principles.

Tom Fletcher, Chief of Humanitarian Affairs for the United Nations, tells Fergal Keane, the BBC’s special correspondent, that Israel is subjecting Gaza to enforced starvation. Gaza faced an aid blockade of nearly three months - now,

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The situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began 19-months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave where famine looms.