Palestinian health officials and witnesses say Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site on Tuesday, killing at least 27, in the third such incident in three days. The army said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.

The shootings come after an Israeli and US-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system it says is designed to circumvent Hamas. The United Nations rejected the system, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.

Palestinian children wait for food at a distribution point in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Monday