A new Amnesty International report says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a controversial U.S.- and Israel-backed group that took over aid distribution in the territory more than a month ago — uses a militarized aid mechanism that enables Israel to use starvation as a weapon of war and inflict genocide against Palestinians.

The report published Thursday points at testimony gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition and displaced Palestinians struggling to find food in the war-torn enclave.

"Their accounts provide further evidence of the catastrophic suffering caused by Israel's ongoing restrictions on life-saving aid and its deadly militarized aid scheme coupled with mass forced displacement, relentless bombardment and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure," Amnesty says in its report.

The latest report comes as at least 45 Palestinians were killed overnight on Wednesday in an attempt to find aid, Gaza's Health Ministry said. 

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), while 40 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

WATCH | Dozens of Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid on Thursday:

Nearly 100 Palestinians killed overnight, including dozens waiting for aid: Gaza authorities

Gaza health officials say at least 94 Palestinians were killed in shootings and Israeli airstrikes overnight, including 45 who were attempting to receive humanitarian aid.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports and that its forces were taking precautions to mitigate harm to civilians as it battled Palestinian militants throughout Gaza.

CBC News reached out to GHF for comment but it did not immediately hear back.

Amnesty accuses Israel of turning aid access into 'booby trap'

Since late May, when GHF launched operations, at least 650 Palestinians have been killed in shootings and more than 4,500 have been injured near GHF aid sites or on routes to the sites guarded by Israeli forces, according to Gaza's Health Ministry in an update on Thursday.

Amnesty said Israel has "turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians" through GHF's militarized hubs, creating conditions of "a deadly mix of hunger and disease pushing the population past breaking point." 

"This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution," said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

"Not only has the international community failed to stop this genocide, but it has also allowed Israel to constantly reinvent new ways to destroy Palestinian lives in Gaza and trample on their human dignity."

The report comes on the heels of nearly 170 non-governmental organizations calling for the dismantling of the GHF-run aid system, saying it forces Palestinians to be caught between starvation and danger, in a joint statement Tuesday. The GHF said on Wednesday it was planning to shut its branch in Geneva after Swiss authorities launched proceedings to dissolve it.

Israel's foreign minister denounced the Amnesty report, saying the organization has "joined forces with Hamas and fully adopted all of its propaganda lies."

The Israeli army says it has fired warning shots to control crowds and only fires at people it says are acting suspiciously.

The foreign ministry and COGAT, the Israeli defence body in charge of co-ordinating aid to Gaza, said Israel has facilitated the entry of more than 3,000 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip since May 19.

Humanitarian organizations say that amount is not nearly enough to meet overwhelming need in Gaza.

WATCH | Palestinians describe deadly attacks en route to GHF aid sites: 

‘We saw death’: Palestinians describe violence near GHF aid sites on Monday

At least 20 people were killed and 200 others wounded in Israeli fire near an aid distribution site in Rafah on Monday, according to medics. The deaths are the latest in mass shootings that have killed at least 300 Palestinians in the past several weeks, Gaza’s Health Ministry says, as they try to access food through the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution system.

Israeli strikes pound Gaza overnight

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Mawasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza's Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war. U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on the terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas's response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

WATCH | Israel said it wants a ceasefire, Hamas said it is studying the proposal:

Latest Israel-Hamas ceasefire proposal met with uncertainty

The status of the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains uncertain despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. The Israeli government insists it wants to reach a ceasefire and hostage agreement, while Hamas said it is studying the proposal.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas militants and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets toward Israel on Wednesday. 

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times.