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Israeli forces killed four aid seekers traveling on Sunday through a military zone south of Gaza City — an area regularly used by Palestinians trying to reach a food distribution point, a hospital and witnesses said, Associated Press reported.

The deaths add to the growing toll of Palestinians killed while seeking food, as parts of the Gaza Strip plunge into famine and Israel’s military ramps up activity in northern Gaza ahead of a planned offensive to seize its largest city.

Al-Awda Hospital and two eyewitnesses told The Associated Press that the four Palestinians were killed when troops opened fire on a crowd heading to a site run by the Israeli-backed American contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area. It occurred hundreds of meters (yards) away from the site, the eyewitnesses said, according to Associated Press.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would continue to fight for its freedom in an address to the nation on its Independence Day, BBC reported.

"We need a just peace, a peace where our future will be decided only by us," he said, adding that Ukraine would fight back against Russia "while its calls for peace are not heard".

He continued: "Ukraine has not yet won, but it has certainly not lost."

Zelensky's remarks came after Moscow said Ukraine had attacked Russian power and energy facilities overnight, blaming drone attacks for a fire at a nuclear power plant in its western Kursk region, according to Reuters.

The World Health Organization said a staff member was released on Sunday more than four weeks after being detained in Gaza by Israeli forces, Reuters reported.

"Extremely relieved that our colleague, detained since 21 July in Gaza, was released this morning," agency Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X. He reiterated a call for protection of all WHO staff and personnel, and health and humanitarian workers.

In July, the United Nations agency said the Israeli military had attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah.

During that time, the WHO said that two of its staff members and two family members were detained by Israeli forces. Three were later released, while one staff member remained in detention, according to Reuters.

Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia on Sunday, forcing a sharp fall in the capacity of a reactor at one of Russia's biggest nuclear power plants and sparking a huge blaze at the major Ust-Luga fuel export terminal, Russian officials said, Reuters reported.

Despite talk of peace by Russia and Ukraine, the deadliest European war since World War Two is continuing along the 2,000 km (1,250 mile) front line accompanied by missile and drone attacks deep into both Russia and Ukraine. 

Russia's defence ministry said at least 95 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted across more than a dozen Russian regions on August 24, the day that Ukraine celebrates its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, according to Reuters.