New York, 3 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The UN Security Council has underscored the importance of protecting Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip amid ongoing fighting and since the deadly incident involving aid deliveries.

"Parties were urged to refrain from depriving civilians in Gaza of basic services and humanitarian assistance," according to a United Nations statement published in New York on Saturday.

The council expressed "grave concern that the entire population, more than two million people, could face alarming levels of acute food insecurity," according to the statement.

Members reiterated their demand for parties “to allow, facilitate, and enable the immediate, rapid, safe, sustained and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale to the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip”.

They urged Israel to keep border crossings open for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, to facilitate the opening of additional crossings to meet humanitarian needs at scale, and to support the rapid and safe delivery of relief items to people throughout the Gaza Strip.

The member states also expressed concern about the reports of the recent disaster concerning an aid convoy in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza accused Israeli soldiers of shooting dead 104 people and injuring 760 as aid was being handed out to Palestinians on Thursday.

The Israeli army said civilians had stormed the aid lorries in Gaza City and dozens of people had been trampled on. It said an investigation is under way.

The UN Security Council avoided directly apportioning blame for the incident. Its statement merely said that Israeli forces had been involved when a large crowd of people surrounded a humanitarian aid convoy south-west of the city of Gaza.