In a joint statement released on Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies and rights groups said Gaza was facing “widespread starvation” and called on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in Gaza, mostly near food sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office said.

Even though Israel eased a 2-½-month blockade on the territory in May, aid groups say only a trickle of assistance is getting into the enclave and that Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger 21 months into the Israeli offensive launched after Hamas' Oct.

The foreign ministers of 25 Western nations have slammed Israel for “drip feeding” aid into the Gaza Strip, as the health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May.

Israel said on Tuesday there were 950 trucks' worth of aid waiting in Gaza - but the agencies accuse Israel of blocking access to it.

Arriving in Gaza in late March just as Israel broke the ceasefire, The Intercept witnessed firsthand what happened to Gaza’s most vulnerable after the U.S. defunded USAID and UNRWA and turned those agencies’ work over to the Israeli military and GHF.

An explosion was seen in the northern Gaza Strip from southern Israel early Sunday. The reason of the explosion shortly after midnight GMT was not known.