Photos: Israel strikes UN warehouse in Rafah as famine looms in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said one of its warehouses in war-ravaged Gaza was “hit”, amid mounting efforts to bring food to the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel’s war on Gaza, raging since October 7, has caused mass civilian deaths, reduced vast areas to a rubble-strewn wasteland and sparked warnings of looming famine in the Palestinian territory of 2.3 million people.

“We can confirm that an UNRWA warehouse/distribution centre in Rafah (southern Gaza) has been hit,” the UN agency said on Wednesday.

“We do not yet have more information on what exactly happened nor the number of UNRWA staff impacted,” agency spokeswoman Juliette Touma told news agency AFP.

“UNRWA uses this facility to distribute much-needed food and other lifesaving items to displaced people in southern Gaza.”

The health ministry in Gaza, which is governed by the Palestinian group Hamas, said four people were killed in the “bombing of the warehouse”.

This came as donor nations, aid agencies and charities pushed on with efforts to supply food to the impoverished territory.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive have killed 31,272 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

At least 88 people were killed over the past 24 hours, it said, adding that “dozens of missing persons are still under the rubble”.

The Israeli army said its troops were “intensifying operations” in the southern Gaza Strip, including the biggest city there, Khan Younis.

Gaza’s dire food shortages after more than five months of war and siege have killed 27 people through malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children, according to the health ministry.

Fahd al-Ghoul, a resident of Jabalia Camp in the north, said: “We have been fasting against our will for two months or more.”

“Now with Ramadan, nothing changes in our reality,” said the 50-year-old.