An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point run by a private US-based group has killed at least 31 people in Gaza, local health authorities said, as Hamas and Israel exchanged blame over a faltering effort to secure a ceasefire, AFP reports.

“There are martyrs and injuries. Many injuries. It is a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points. Enough, paramedic Abu Tareq said at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis city.

The local Palestinian Red Crescent, affiliated with the international Red Cross, said its medical teams had recovered the bodies of 23 Palestinians and treated another 23 injured near an aid collection site in Rafah. The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operates the aid distribution sites in Rafah.

The Red Crescent also reported that 14 more Palestinians were injured near a separate site in central Gaza. GHF also operates the aid distribution site in central Gaza.

Earlier, the Palestinian news agency Wafa put the number of deaths at 30. Local health authorities said at least 31 bodies had so far arrived at Nasser Hospital.

Gaza government media office said Israel has turned the distribution sites into “death traps” for people desperate to get some aid.

“We affirm to the world that what is taking place is a deliberate and malicious use of aid as a ‘weapon of war’, employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military,” it said.