We've just received an update from the Palestinian Red Crescent, in which they say their teams have transported 23 fatalities and 23 injured people from the aid distribution point in Rafah.

In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent says it has also moved 14 injured people from an aid distribution point near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

Earlier, rescuers reported that at least 26 people have been killed amid Israeli tank fire near a Gaza aid centre, near Rafah.

We'll bring you the latest updates on the total number of fatalities as we get it.

Just a reminder that our coverage of this morning's incident, and all reporting from Gaza, is constrained by Israel's conditions for international journalists from media organisations, including the BBC.

Israel doesn't allow independent access to the territory making it difficult to verify facts on the ground, which is why we attribute death tolls and sources as clearly as possible.

Israel's military says its troops have taken journalists on escorted trips in Gaza to allow them to report safely.

Palestinian journalists and media workers have reported from inside Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, but dozens have been killed, injured or gone missing.

Image source, Getty Images

We’ve been receiving more images from Nasser Hospital in Gaza, where crowds of Palestinians are gathering to mourn the dead.

Body bags have been seen lying on the ground with lines of Palestinians paying their respects alongside them.

It’s not clear at this moment whether the deceased are people who have been killed in today’s incident or not. But we’re trying to establish the facts and we’ll bring you the latest information as we get it.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Verify geolocates videos to near recently-opened aid hubpublished at 09:10 British Summer Time 1 June

09:10 BST 1 June

By Benedict Garman

BBC Verify has been scouring social media for footage purporting to show scenes from this morning.

So far, much of the video is of bodies being carried on horse carts and in the back of lorries to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, rather than of the actual incidents unfolding.

Local media reports suggest shootings at two separate sites but we've not yet seen footage confirming the exact locations of either of these.

We have geolocated two newly-published videos to Salah al-Din road, just south of the recently opened aid distribution site in the Netzarim Corridor, which show people running and ducking with apparent gunfire audible in the background.

Some people stop and crouch behind rocks and rubble for cover, while loud bangs and shots ring out.

We're continuing to gather and examine more footage to try and establish what happened and exactly where.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it's "currently unaware of injuries caused by IDF fire" at the humanitarian aid distribution site.

"The matter is still under review," it adds in a statement.

Image source, Reuters

The latest ceasefire proposal has come from the US and is backed by Israel.

While the full details haven’t been made public, Reuters reported the plan included a 60-day pause in fighting, the release of dozens of Israeli hostages and more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, and more humanitarian aid through the UN and other agencies.

Yesterday, Hamas responded that it wanted a "permanent ceasefire" and "complete withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza. It also asked for guarantees on aid and said it would release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for "an agreed upon number" of Palestinian prisoners.

Both the US and Israel have said Hamas’s position was unacceptable and “set the situation back”.

Donald Trump’s former Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has called on Hamas to accept the proposal as a step towards talks for a permanent ceasefire.

Image source, AFP

As we've been reporting, today's incident reportedly took place near to an aid distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The GHF is a new US and Israel-backed organisation that has been distributing food at designated sites across Gaza.

Israel set up the plan after accusing Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

The GHF says it distributed two million meals this week, which the BBC has not been able to independently verify.

Image source, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation/Handout via Reuters

The GHF, which uses armed American security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to the 2.1 million people in Gaza, where experts have warned of a looming famine.

A UN spokesman has called the operation a "distraction from what is actually needed" and urged Israel to reopen all crossings.

The UN and many aid groups have refused to co-operate with GHF's plans, which they say contradict humanitarian principles and appear to "weaponise aid".

They have warned that the system will practically exclude those with mobility issues, force further displacement, expose thousands of people to harm, make aid conditional on political and military aims, and set an unacceptable precedent for aid delivery around the world.

Image source, Getty Images

Mohammed Ghareeb, a local journalist in Rafah, tells the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near a US-backed humanitarian aid distribution centre when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd.

Ghareeb says the crowd of Palestinians had gathered near Al-Alam roundabout around 04:30 local time (02:30 BST), close to the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, shortly before Israeli tanks appeared and opened fire.

"The dead and wounded lay on the ground for a long time," Ghareeb says.

"Rescue crews could not access the area, which is under Israeli control. This forced residents to use donkey carts to transport victims to the field hospital," he adds.

Sebastian Usher
Middle East editor, reporting from Jerusalem

The bodies of the dead and wounded have been taken on donkey carts from the site that was hit near a US-funded aid distribution centre in Rafah in southern Gaza.

A local Palestinian journalist says that thousands of Palestinians had gathered early in the morning close to the aid centre when Israeli tanks opened fire.

The BBC has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) for comment, but has not yet received a response.

The latest deadly incident connected to the new aid mechanism occurred hours after Hamas gave its response to the latest US-backed ceasefire proposal.

A senior Hamas official said the group had responded positively and responsibly, but US envoy Steve Witkoff said that it was totally unacceptable.

Injured Palestinians are being brought to the Nasser Hospital after this morning's reported attack near Rafah, in Gaza.

Many pictures we've seen show people with injuries which appear too graphic to publish here.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Humphrey
Live reporter

At least 26 people have been killed, and scores have been injured, near a US-backed aid distribution site near Gaza's southern city of Rafah, according to medics and residents.

A local Palestinian journalist told the BBC that thousands of Palestinians had gathered near a humanitarian aid distribution centre when Israeli tanks approached and opened fire on the crowd.

The incident reportedly took place to the west of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and the injured are being treated at one of Gaza’s few functioning hospitals in Khan Younis.

This comes as the US attempts to broker a ceasefire and Israel has faced international criticism for the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

We’ll bring you more on this and the latest developments in the war, stay with us.

Image source, Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff have labelled Hamas's response to a new ceasefire plan as "totally unacceptable".

The comments come after Hamas pledged to release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The statement also contained the organisation's well-known conditions: a permanent ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid.

But as our correspondent Barbara Plett Usher notes, none of those conditions are currently on the table. As a result, Hamas's response is neither an explicit rejection nor acceptance of the terms the US and Israel have set out.

We are pausing our live coverage for now, but you can follow further developments on BBC News.

• Hamas makes hostage pledge but demands changes to US Gaza ceasefire plan
• Last hospital in North Gaza governorate evacuated after Israeli order
• Gaza subjected to forced starvation, top UN official tells BBC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has released a statement about Hamas's response to the US-backed ceasefire deal.

In it, the office accuses Hamas of refusing the US ceasefire proposal and says Israel is committed to defeating the group. It also echoes the statement made a little earlier by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and says that Hamas is setting talks back.

The statement reads: "While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff outline for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to adhere to its refusal.

"As the US president's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said: Hamas's response is unacceptable and sets the situation back.

"Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas."

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff says Hamas's statement on the US's ceasefire proposal is "totally unacceptable and only takes us backward".

In a post on X, Witkoff writes: "Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.

"That is the only way we can close a 60 day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire."

Image source, Reuters

An advocacy group for Israeli hostages held in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square today.

In a statement on social media, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum writes: "After 603 days of war, we wish to remind everyone that war is a means, not an end in itself."

While the group does not directly address the response from Hamas, it says that "the vast majority of the Israeli public is united around one consensus - bringing back all 58 hostages in a single operation, even at the cost of ending the war.

"This is the time to make a decision and choose the hostages - without the return of all hostages, there is no true victory."

Mallory Moench
BBC News

Image source, Christos Georgalas/ Handout

Christos Georgalas, a Greek surgeon who until 21 May volunteered with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told the BBC his patients were mainly children, usually with shrapnel injuries.

"Children were the main victims in terms of trauma and malnutrition," he said on Friday. Malnutrition slows down the healing process and increases the risk of infections because wounds remain open longer, he explained.

He and hospital staff ate only rice for lunch and dinner, which he said made them lucky compared to others. One of his colleagues told him he had lost 26 kilos (57 pounds) over the last months.

Georgalas said a lot of doctors had not been paid for a year. Some live in tents, commuting without protection to work, or have to evacuate on short notice.

"They are worried for their relatives and lives, they are starved, despite that they continue," he said, praising their “very high level of care” and “amazing skills”.

The hospital and its grounds were twice hit while he was there, with one strike on 13 May killing a Palestinian photojournalist being treated for injuries who Israel had previously accused of involvement in the 7 October Hamas attack, external on Israel. On 19 May the hospital courtyard was hit but no one was injured, he said.

Georgalas said he saw no evidence of the hospital being used for military purposes during a month working and sleeping inside of it.

Since he left Gaza, his colleague told him the ICU had been "constantly full" and "overwhelmed", with doctors having to ration care because so many patients need intubation.

The IDF says that it killed Mohammed Sinwar, head of Hamas's military wing, in an air strike on 13 May.

The same strike also killed Mohammad Sabaneh, commander of Hamas's Rafah Brigade, and Mahdi Quara, commander of Hamas's South Khan Yunis Battalion, the IDF says.

The Israeli army says that they were "operating in an underground command and control center, under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, deliberately endangering the civilian population in and around the hospital."

At the time, the Hamas-run civil defence agency said the strike killed 28 people and injured dozens of others.

Israeli warplanes dropped six bombs on the hospital simultaneously, striking its inner courtyard and surrounding area, according to local sources.

A freelance journalist working for the BBC was among those injured.

Unlikely that Netanyahu will negotiate changes Hamas wantspublished at 18:55 British Summer Time 31 May

18:55 BST 31 May

Barbara Plett Usher
Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli government has not officially commented on Hamas’ response to the proposed ceasefire deal.

But local media are quoting senior Israeli sources who say the Palestinian group has in effect rejected the US proposal by suggesting amendments. The terms on offer were the ones Israel could accept – the White House made sure of that by getting Israel’s approval before passing the proposal to Hamas.

It’s unlikely the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be in the mood to negotiate the changes Hamas wants. He’s under pressure to bring the hostages home. And he’s said he’s willing to accept a temporary ceasefire to do so.

But the Israeli government has always insisted on the right to return to hostilities, despite Hamas’ core demand for guarantees that the temporary truce be a path to ending the war. The prime minister has said the war will end when Hamas “lays down its arms, is no longer in government (and) its leaders are exiled from the Gaza Strip.”

His Defense Minister Israel Katz was more blunt this week: "The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the 'Witkoff Deal' for the release of the hostages -- or be annihilated," he said.

The UN has repeatedly warned of widespread hunger and starvation as a result of Israel's total blockade of Gaza - with a humanitarian chief recently calling it "forced starvation".

Israel resumed its bombardment of the Palestinian enclave in early March following six weeks of ceasefire and barred aid from reaching Gaza's more than 2 million residents.

Though aid has started entering the region, officials warn it is not enough. Between 500 and 600 lorries worth of supplies are required each day to adequately feed residents.

Crowds desperate for food have swarmed lorries that have arrived at distribution sites and 47 people were injured last week as people overwhelmed one such centre.

"We're seeing food set on the borders and not being allowed in when there is a population on the other side of the border that is starving, and we're hearing Israeli ministers say that is to put pressure on the population of Gaza", the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher recently told the BBC.

Rushdi Abualouf
BBC News Gaza correspondent, reporting from Cairo

Image source, Reuters

Hamas now finds itself in the most complex and difficult position it has faced since the war began.

Under intense pressure from 2.2 million people living the worst conditions in their history and from the mediators, the movement is unable to accept an American proposal that is, by all accounts, less generous than previous offers it has already rejected multiple times, the most recent being in March.

At that time, senior Hamas official and head negotiator Khalil al-Hayya stated unequivocally that the movement would not agree to partial deals that fail to secure a complete and permanent end to the war.

Yet, Hamas also finds itself unable to reject the latest US offer outright, fully aware that Israel is preparing to escalate its ground offensive in Gaza.

The movement lacks the military capacity to prevent or even seriously resist such an assault.

Caught between these two realities, Hamas released a brief and vague statement: neither a clear acceptance nor a definitive rejection.

In effect, the movement responded to the proposal not with an answer, but with an entirely new counterproposal.