The Israeli occupation continues its bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip, targeting civilians, displaced persons, and humanitarian aid convoys. This comes amid a rise in the number of deaths from hunger and international warnings that famine has become inevitable.
17 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children, were martyred, and others were injured, in Israeli raids that targeted 4 homes housing displaced persons in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. The bodies of the martyrs and the injured were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, amid expectations that the numbers will rise.
Israeli occupation fighters launched raids on areas near the Al-Zawaida and Al-Bureij camps in the central Gaza Strip. In the Al-Sikka area, east of Jabalia Camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli bombing continued, as occupation aircraft targeted two houses with two missiles.
Earlier yesterday, Wednesday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the occupation army committed nine massacres during the last twenty-four hours, leaving 86 martyrs and 113 wounded. The ministry added that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression rose to 30,717 martyrs, while the number of wounded rose to 72,156 since the start of the war on the seventh of last October.
In a related context, the number of victims of the Israeli targeting of civilians waiting for aid at the Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City yesterday, Wednesday, rose to 5 martyrs and a number of wounded, according to medical sources. Also, 7 people were martyred and at least 10 were injured when the occupation army fired bullets and shells at citizens waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in the central Gaza Strip.
United Nations: Famine is almost inevitable
After the United Nations warned that famine had become almost inevitable in Gaza if no action was taken to avoid it, the spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, told Al Jazeera that the countries with the greatest influence on Israel must exercise their influence to stop the fire and bring in aid, and described the situation in Gaza. Tragically, stressing the need to open additional corridors for the entry of aid.
He added: “Without a ceasefire, we cannot perform our humanitarian work in the required manner, and we cannot meet the needs of the people on the ground. Now we perform humanitarian work whenever we have the opportunity. We are trying to reach those in need as much as possible, so we urgently need to open additional corridors to bring in aid because The Rafah and Abu Salem crossings are not sufficient.” The UN spokesman pointed out that airdrops and searches by sea do not replace the opening of land crossings.
In the same context, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine, James McGoldrick, said that airdrops are not targeted and do not reach the people who need them.
He added in a press conference that these operations help, but they are not a substitute for delivering humanitarian aid by land, as he put it.
McGoldrick warned of the worsening food crisis and health conditions in the Gaza Strip, and explained that the situation in northern Gaza, hygiene and health conditions, and food shortages all affect the most vulnerable segment in the region. He stated that he followed deaths due to hunger in Gaza from various sources and reports, noting the death of a 14-day-old infant due to hunger.
For her part, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Bettencourt, condemned Israel's continued efforts to obstruct humanitarian aid and use it as a weapon, including attacks on civilians requesting assistance.
Bettencourt stressed that any evacuation order imposed on Rafah under the current circumstances would constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, reported the death of a 15-year-old boy in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, and a 72-year-old man in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza as a result of malnutrition and dehydration, which raises the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration in Sector to 20.
Al-Qudra pointed out that the announced toll reflects only what reaches hospitals, and that dozens of others die silently as a result of starvation without reaching hospitals. The health spokesman confirmed that famine in Gaza had reached lethal levels, especially among children, pregnant women, and those suffering from chronic diseases, calling for the immediate entry of humanitarian and medical aid.
Al-Qudra also called on the international community and the United Nations to use all pressure tools to ensure an immediate cessation of the aggression and to take urgent measures to prevent the humanitarian and health catastrophe in northern Gaza.
Last week, the Dawar al-Nabulsi area witnessed a massacre in which 116 Palestinians were martyred when the occupation forces opened fire on civilians while they were trying to obtain food supplies from aid trucks.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe, which led to Israel appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.