GAZA CITY, Palestine 

The Health Ministry in Gaza on Tuesday urged the international community to save Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip from starvation, stressing that the Israeli army has made it a "routine" to target Palestinians waiting for aid.

"Bombing gatherings of starving people become a daily routine practiced by the (Israeli) occupation, and seen by the international community on TV," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

"The price of a small package of aid may mean certain death," the Gaza-based ministry also said.

It sent a distress call to the international community urging not to let the Palestinian people in the northern Gaza Strip "be victims to hunger, bombing, and illness," warning that the world may see the largest number of victims from starvation in the upcoming days.

Early on Tuesday, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa quoted health sources in Gaza that said at least nine Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army while waiting for the arrival of aid at the Kuwait Roundabout area, southeastern Gaza City, in the northern part of the strip.

Israel has waged a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 31,100 Palestinians and injured over 72,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara