GAZA — At least 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, including 12 guarding incoming aid lorries, local medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defense authority say.

Seven guards were killed in a strike in Rafah while protecting aid lorries from violent armed theft, which UN workers say is the main obstacle to getting supplies into southern Gaza. Another attack left five guards dead in Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it "conducted precise strikes on armed Hamas terrorists" who had planned to hijack the lorries.

In a separate Israeli attack, 15 people were killed near Nuseirat refugee camp, the Civil Defense said.

"The occupation once again targeted those securing the aid trucks," Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the AFP news agency.

He added that around 30 people, most of them children, were also wounded in the two strikes.

The lorries were carrying flour to warehouses belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Basal said.

Recently – amid severe food shortages – UN workers say violent armed thefts have been the main obstacle to getting aid into the southern part of Gaza. Civilians, as well as remnants of Hamas police, have mobilized to try to counter the gangs.

Hamas says Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid lorries in Gaza since the latest war began on 7 October 2023.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: "Overnight, following intelligence information indicating the presence of Hamas terrorists, the IDF conducted precise strikes on armed Hamas terrorists gathered at two different meeting points in southern Gaza."

It added that "all of the terrorists that were eliminated were members of Hamas and planned to violently hijack humanitarian aid trucks and transfer them to Hamas".

Separately, Israeli air strikes on two homes near Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, and Gaza City, in the north, killed 21 more people, the Civil Defense said.

At least six children were among the 15 people killed in Nuseirat, while the bodies of six other people were found after a strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Basal said.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the Palestinian group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 44,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

After months of failed international efforts to end the war, Israel's defense minister has told his US counterpart there is a chance for a new deal that would allow the return of all of the remaining hostages, including American citizens.

Other reports have suggested a limited deal with Hamas is being discussed. — BBC