Key points
- 22 nations ask Israel to let aid into besieged Gaza
- Gaza’s population faces starvation
- UN human rights office has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Israeli forces bombard Gaza, killing at least 60 Palestinians since midnight, after its military ordered Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis to flee ahead of an “unprecedented attack,” Al-Jazeera reported.
It added that the leaders of Canada, France and the United Kingdom (UK) threaten to take “concrete action” against Israel if it does not end its renewed brutal offensive in Gaza, while 22 countries ask Israel to let aid into the besieged enclave.
The group of 22 countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Japan and Australia said in a joint statement that Gaza’s population “faces starvation” and “must receive the aid they desperately need”.
The World Health Organization warned that Gaza’s “two million people are starving”.
“Ethnic cleansing”
AFP reported that aid trickled into the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in more than two months, following intense international condemnation over Israel’s total blockade that has sparked shortages of food and medicine.
Earlier, DW reported on Saturday that the UN human rights office has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, highlighting the apparent push to displace the population and the denial of humanitarian assistance in defiance of international law.
Israel’s war on Gaza
The Israeli army stepped up its military offensive in Gaza on Saturday, claiming it was aimed at “the defeat of Hamas. Since then, scores of Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes on the besieged coastal territory, AFP cited rescuers as saying.
“Civil defence teams have transferred (to hospitals) at least 44 dead, mostly children and women, as well as dozens of wounded” across Gaza since 1:00 am (2200 GMT Monday), AFP quoted agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal as saying.
Bassal said eight Palestinians were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City and 12 in a strike on a house in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Another 15 Palestinians were killed in a strike on a gas station near the Nuseirat refugee camp and nine in a strike on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire. “We will take control of all the territory of the strip,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Monday.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,475 Palestinians and wounded 121,398, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.