Gaza City, Gaza - The Gaza health ministry said early Friday that Israeli fire killed at least 21 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory.

The health ministry said in a statement that citizens had gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north when Israeli forces opened fire.

Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, told AFP there were "direct shots by the occupation forces" on people who had gathered at the roundabout to wait for a food truck.

An AFP journalist on the scene saw several bodies and people who had been shot.

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The Israeli military denied it had opened fire on the crowd of Gazans waiting for aid.

"Press reports that Israeli forces attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are erroneous," it said in a brief statement, adding that it was "analyzing the incident seriously."

Israeli troops have been repeatedly accused of opening fire on groups of Palestinians gathering to collect desperately needed aid. At the end of February, over 100 were killed in an incident since dubbed the "Flour Massacre," as Israeli soldiers and tanks shot at a people surging towards a food truck.

According to a near-unanimous chorus of aid agencies, human rights organizations, and charities, Gaza has been driven to the brink of mass famine with unprecedented speed.

As Israel continues to slow down the entry of aid to a trickle, the US has promised to build a temporary port to relieve the catastrophic situation, with the death toll in Gaza now nearing 32,000.

At the same time, President Joe Biden has continued to ram through military and diplomatic support for Israel, even as it faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.