The Global March to Gaza is a civilian-led initiative to march from Arish, Egypt, to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip beginning on Sunday. Once in Rafah, the goal was to set up a camp and work to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, provide humanitarian aid to the strip and protest against Israel's actions in the territory.

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, local health authorities said.

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week.