BRUSSELS — Europe’s top diplomats are assessing a new deal with Israel to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.

Since the EU deal was announced last Thursday, scores of people including children have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid from the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Kaag said that the EU must not fall into a trap of seeing aid as a bargaining chip, rather than a fundamental human right.

Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

At least 12 Palestinians were killed and several others injured Tuesday in new Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, medical sources said. Five people lost their lives when Israeli fighter jets hit a house in al-Zarqa neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City, a medical source said.

Israel’s air and ground war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven some 90% of the population from their homes. Aid groups say they have struggled to bring in food and other assistance because of Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order, and experts have warned of famine.