Nearly six months of war has destroyed critical infrastructure in Gaza including hospitals, schools and homes as well as roads, sewage systems and the electrical grid.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says 32,705 Palestinians have been killed, with 82 bodies taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll but has said most those killed have been women and children.
Clashes, deadly aid chaos in war-torn Gaza; Israeli strike wounds UN observers
Clashes, deadly aid chaos in war-torn Gaza; Israeli strike wounds UN observers
Israel says more than a third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence to support that, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.
Israel’s military on Saturday acknowledged shooting dead two Palestinians and wounding a third on Gaza’s beach, responding to a video broadcast earlier this week by Al Jazeera that showed one man falling to the ground after walking in an open area and a bulldozer pushing two bodies into the rubbish-strewn sand. The military said troops opened fire after the men allegedly ignored warning shots.
The war has displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza’s population and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine, the UN and international aid agencies say. Israel’s military said it continued to strike dozens of targets in Gaza, days after the UN Security Council issued its first demand for a ceasefire.
Aid also fell on Gaza. The US military during an airdrop on Friday said it had released more than 100,000 pounds of aid that day and almost a million pounds overall, part of a multi-country effort.
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Israeli forces open fire on crowd of Palestinians seeking aid,, as Gaza death toll surpasses 30,000
Israeli forces open fire on crowd of Palestinians seeking aid,, as Gaza death toll surpasses 30,000
More than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank or east Jerusalem since October 7, according to local health authorities. Dr Fawaz Hamad, director of Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, told local station Awda TV that Israeli forces killed a 13-year-old boy in nearby Qabatiya early on Saturday. Israel’s military said the incident was under review.
Israel has said that after the war it will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with Palestinians who are not affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. It is unclear who in Gaza would be willing to take on such a role.
Hamas has warned Palestinians in Gaza against cooperating with Israel to administer the territory, saying anyone who does will be treated as a collaborator, which is understood as a death threat. Hamas calls instead for all Palestinian factions to form a power-sharing government ahead of national elections, which have not taken place in 18 years.