It took place on Wednesday against the backdrop of growing hunger and desperation in the enclave, reeling from a financial crisis that has seen food prices more than double over the past three months.
Abdikani Ali, a Somali police officer, said hundreds of civilians had flocked to the truck, which was destroyed when it flipped over.
The vehicle was asked by the Israeli military to go on an "unsafe road," according to local officials quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defence, said the accident was waiting to happen as Gazans await desperately needed supplies — a situation exacerbated by Israel's insistence on approving many aid convoys.
Chaos Surrounding Aid Distribution
In a statement, Gaza's Government Media Office said: "Israel deliberately obstructed and delayed the arrival of 53 truckloads of supplies, equipment, and fuel... to push transporters into hazardous and over-congested travel routes." The mission said that desperation among civilians led more and more of them to storm aid trucks for handouts.
Humanitarian organizations have warned for years of the dangers associated with delivering aid into Gaza, where dire famine conditions are deepening.
But aid has been hampered by bureaucratic blockages, lack of access, and recurring violence close to the places where help is distributed.
On Monday, Israel let in 95 aid trucks to Gaza, but the U.N. says that is way below the 600 trucks needed every day just to meet basic human needs, according to data. The latest daily mean is only 85, as indicated by the United Nations bureau UNRWA.
Famine and Violence Escalate
It was unfortunate that the death had occurred at a time of increased deaths from starvation and under-nutrition.
On Monday, three others died from starvation, including an infant and child at al-Shifa Hospital, and an adult in Jabalia, according to medical sources.
"People are dying every day," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), told journalists in Geneva. Gaza is still 'on the precipice of famine', life-saving aid continues to be blocked at key crossings, he warned.
But in flashes, Palestinians have said that their pleas to get essential supplies such as food from distribution points run by the controversial Global Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) have come under Israeli fire.
They are now a regular feature towards the centre and south of Gaza, where the group began activity last May.
Continued Israeli Strikes Across Gaza
And, besides the aid truck disaster, at least seven Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes throughout the territory.
Al-Awda Hospital said a mother, two of her children, and three other people were killed in an air raid on another house near the Nuseirat refugee camp.
In the southern market town of Rafah, meanwhile, four people were killed when Israeli bombs struck in and around two homes near Gaza City's Shujayea neighbourhood.
