At least 51 Palestinians were killed and over 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital.

Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 45 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory's health ministry said, adding that dozens of others were wounded.

Israel's military campaign since has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip. Most of the population is displaced, and widespread malnutrition is a significant concern.