Mughrabi and Olivia Le Poidevin CAIRO/GENEVA (Reuters) -Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many of whom had been trying to get food, local officials said, while the United Nations' children's agency warned of a looming man-made drought in the enclave as its water systems collapse.

In a separate Israeli attack on Friday, a medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent told the BBC that 11 Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a home in the al-Ma'sar area west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis.