Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said the situation in Gaza was getting “worse by the day” and that there is an urgent need to ensure more humanitarian aid is delivered to the Palestinian enclave.

“To be clear, in saying it’s intolerable to be absolutely clear that there needs to be a ceasefire,” the British premier said.

His comments came after health officials and international organisations said at least 31 people died and around 200 were wounded on Sunday.

Witnesses say Israeli forces fired towards crowds near an aid site run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group backed by Israel and the US.

Starmer said humanitarian aid needs to get in to Gaza “at speed and at volumes, that it is not getting in at the moment, causing absolute devastation”.

He said it was important to “continue our work to secure the release of hostages who’ve been held for a very, very long time”.

“We’re working closely with allies on that. Will continue to do so,” he said.

Hospitals in Gaza have been overwhelmed with victims, with Doctors without Borders saying people reported being shot at from all sides.

Israel’s military denied its forces fired at civilians near or within the site in the southern city of Rafah.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with procedure, said troops fired warning shots at several suspects advancing toward them overnight.

After violent protests in Bangui blocked an opposition party meeting on Saturday, leaving two people dead, the Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution, or BRDC, is pointing the finger at the ruling United Heart Movement (MCU). They’re accusing officials of organising the violence that disrupted the event at a football stadium in the capital.

Crépin Mboli Goumba is a platform coordinator with the BRDC. Speaking to journalists on Sunday, he said it was a sad day for democracy.

“For over a month now, we’ve had an appointment with the Central African people, and we’ve taken all the necessary precautions. We informed the Ministry of Territorial Administrati on, the Ministry of the Interior and MINUSCA so that our meeting could take place peacefully. Unfortunately, the party in power, the MCU, has mobilized all its energy to attack our activists, two of whom are in local hospitals as we speak.”

The BRDC says it received all necessary authorizations to hold the meeting and has accused the police and United Nations peacekeeping force MINUSCA of doing nothing to prevent the violence against activists and journalists.

Organisers of the match where the violence broke out say they have no connection to the ruling party.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine will meet in Turkey on Monday for their second round of direct peace talks in just over two weeks.

The Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was in Istanbul for the meeting, according to Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said in a message posted on the Ukrainian Embassy Whatsapp group.

The Russian delegation headed by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, arrived on Sunday evening, Russian state media reported.

Turkish officials said the meeting would start at 1 p.m. local time (10:00 GMT), with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan presiding over the talks and officials from the Turkish intelligence agency also present.

However, Ukrainian spokesperson Tykhyi said the start would be at midday local time.It was not immediately possible to clarify the discrepancy.

Recent comments by senior officials in both countries indicate they remain far apart on resolving key conditions for stopping the war.

Fierce fighting has in the meantime continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and both sides have hit each other’s territory with deep strikes.

It comes as a Ukrainian drone attack destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in Russia’s territory, Ukraine’s Security Service said on Sunday, while Moscow pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones just hours before the new round of talks.