Aid distribution centres in Gaza will be closed for a day on 4 June as the Israeli military warned that roads leading to them would be considered "combat zones", the BBC reported.

The Humanitarian Foundation for Gaza (HFG), a controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid network that began operating last week, said it was closing its sites for "updating, organisation and improving efficiency".

In a separate update, the Israeli army (IDF) said people would be "prohibited" from entering the distribution centers or moving on the roads leading to them.

During the night of June 3, at least 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire near a distribution center, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defense Agency.

This is the third fatality in a matter of days to occur on a route to a HFG site.

The IDF said that its soldiers fired after identifying suspects who were moving towards them, "deviating from the designated access routes."

After the incident, the director of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Atef al-Houth, said the wounded had arrived with gunshot wounds after Israeli forces opened fire on "crowds of civilians waiting for help in the western part of Rafah."

Hamas-run Civil Protection Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said civilians were fired on by tanks, drones and helicopters near the aid site. | BGNES