GAZA CITY, Palestine: At least 62 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to the health ministry, as Israel’s national security minister warned to completely block humanitarian aid supplies to the besieged territory.
The health ministry said that at least 56,259 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its bombardment campaign on October 7, 2023.
A ministry statement said that 103 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, with 219 people injured, taking the number of injuries to 132,458 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry added.
Local health authorities said that Israeli air attacks killed at least 15 people in two separate attacks in Gaza City, including nine people who were killed at a school housing displaced families in the city’s Sheikh Radwan suburb.
A separate strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Nine people were killed and wounded in a drone attack on Deir el-Balah’s market street, health officials said as cited by Al Jazeera.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were killed and others injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near a distribution point at the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the latest in a series of killings at aid distribution points set up by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food from the sites since the GHF began operations on May 27.
It said the attacks on those seeking aid have also caused 4,066 injuries, and that 39 persons remained missing following the attacks.
According to British charity Save the Children, more than half of the casualties in the attacks near distribution hubs were children.
Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them.
“No one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it’s a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
The GHF has been criticised by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations, which say it is inadequate to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s population.
The GHF took over aid operations in May, following mounting criticism against Israel’s months-long total blockade on aid getting into the Strip. That had pushed most of the population to the brink of starvation.
On Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Israeli government to reimpose its total blockade.
“The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,” he said, adding that “what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to ‘humanitarian’ aid, but a complete stop.”
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that families across Gaza are at risk of dying of thirst amid the collapse of water supply systems.
UNRWA noted that only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are still operating, and that “Gaza is on the edge of a man-made drought.
“Extracting water from wells stopped due to fuel shortages, others located in dangerous areas that are difficult to access, pipelines are broken and leaking, and water tankers that often do not arrive,” the agency said.
