GAZA STRIP, Palestine: More than 90 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza over the past 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday, as Israeli forces intensify their attacks to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and disarm.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed at least 51,157 people and injured over 116,724 others in Gaza, the territory’s health ministry said in its statement, adding that since Israel resumed hostilities on March 18, 1,783 have been killed.
Children and women were among the 15 people killed overnight, and some had been sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff.
At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them in a tent in the Muwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are staying, hospital workers said.
Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone.
Four other people were killed in strikes in Rafah city, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
There was no immediate Israeli military comment. Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy indefinitely large “security zones” inside the small coastal strip of over 2 million people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to issue a statement Saturday night, according to his office. There were no immediate details.
Israel also has blockaded Gaza for the past six weeks, again barring the entry of food and other goods.
This week, aid groups raised the alarm, saying thousands of children have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.
On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean office, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, urged the new US ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicines and other aid can enter.
“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said.
In his first appearance as ambassador on Friday, Huckabee visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by US President Donald Trump.
Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages.
The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 people as hostages.
Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive.
Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,157 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
“The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 51,157 martyrs and 116,724 injuries since October 7, 2023,” the ministry said in its statement.
The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. Around 90% of the population is displaced, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings. – Agencies
