Palestinians say Israeli forces opened fire on people trying to access a U.S.-backed group's aid distribution hub in Gaza, in the deadliest of such incidents reported to date.

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) -Israeli fire killed at least 40 people, half of them near an aid distribution site operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Monday, the territory's health ministry said,

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli troops killed 20 people waiting to collect food on Monday, in the latest deadly incident near a US-backed aid centre in the Palestinian territory's south.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout in the southern city of Rafah,