Desperation for food is growing in Gaza, where the population of some 2.3 million has been pushed toward famine by Israel’s nearly three-month blockade.

A recent report by The Associated Press that exposed the Israeli military’s “systematic” use of Palestinians as human shields has shone a light on an illegal practice that has become commonplace over the 19-month war in Gaza and parallel offensives in the West Bank.

The Associated Press has followed the Abu Jarad family as it traverses across the Gaza Strip and back, fleeing from Israel’s campaign against Hamas

The United Nations and aid groups have pushed back against the new aid system, which is backed by Israel and the United States.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots outside a newly opened aid centre in Gaza to control Palestinians rushing in for food.

Several Palestinians and Israeli soldiers say troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and gunmen.

Israeli strikes kill dozens in the Gaza Strip, including one on a school-turned-shelter, as controversy and concern mount over getting humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Two more children were missing, and the doctor’s husband and one other child were injured in the strike on Friday, the officials said. Israel said it was checking if it had harmed “uninvolved civilians.

Amid Israel’s blockade on Gaza, death can come from the lack of food — or from trying to find food. Early Tuesday morning, while workers with the Gaza Soup Kitchen prepared to serve meals for displaced families sheltering at a United Nations school in Mashrou’ Beit Lehia, Israel’s bombs began to fall.