The Israeli occupation forces killed 11 Palestinians, including a family of three, and wounded others in a series of raids launched since dawn on Friday on areas of the Gaza Strip, as part of the ongoing genocide that has been ongoing for 19 months.
Israeli air and artillery bombardment targeted residential areas and civilian gatherings in the northern, central, and southern Gaza Strip, according to eyewitnesses and medical sources.
In the latest attack, the Israeli occupation forces killed two Palestinians and wounded others after an Israeli drone targeted a gathering of civilians on Al-Wahda Street, west of Gaza City. This was preceded by the announcement of the deaths of two Palestinians who succumbed to wounds they had sustained in a previous attack.
This morning, the Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian in a shelling attack on an apartment building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City. Israeli gunboats also targeted the city's western coast, but no injuries were reported, according to eyewitnesses.
In the central Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army committed a crime by killing a family of three: the father, mother, and their infant child, after bombing their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
This was preceded by the injury of a number of civilians in an Israeli helicopter strike on an apartment building in the town of Al-Zawaida.
In the southern Gaza Strip, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a civilian gathering east of Khan Yunis.
This morning, the eastern areas of Khan Yunis came under heavy tank fire, while Israeli helicopters raided the town of Abasan al-Kabira, accompanied by artillery shelling and intense gunfire, according to other witnesses.
In the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, occupation forces blew up a number of residential buildings in the city center, causing widespread property damage.
The death toll is approaching 53,000.
In this context, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Friday that the death toll from the genocide perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians in the Strip has risen to 52,787 martyrs and 119,349 wounded since October 7, 2023.
The ministry said in its daily statistical report on the number of martyrs and wounded as a result of the Israeli aggression on Gaza: "27 martyrs (including one person who was pulled from under the rubble) and 85 injuries arrived at the hospitals in the Strip during the past 24 hours."
She added, via Telegram, that the death toll since Israel resumed its genocide on March 18 has reached "2,678 martyrs and 7,308 wounded."
The ministry noted that "a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them."
Aid distribution plans will exacerbate children's suffering
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has criticized new plans proposed by Israel and the United States to take over responsibility for distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying they will exacerbate the suffering of children and families.
The US State Department had previously spoken of a solution it said was "just a few steps away" that would allow aid distribution in Gaza. It stated that it would be announced soon.
Relief organizations are discussing a proposal to have an organization called the Gaza Relief Foundation distribute food from four "safe distribution sites." This proposal is similar to plans announced by Israel earlier this week, which have drawn criticism for potentially exacerbating the displacement of Gaza's population.
"The draft plan presented by Israel to the aid community appears likely to exacerbate the ongoing suffering of children and families in Gaza," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.
Elder added that his statement also applies to the new institution, which he believes is part of the same expanded plan.
Aid organizations already reject any plans that would give the occupying power (Israel) a role in distributing aid in Gaza.
A foundation document stated that the sites would be "neutral," and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said today that Israel would not participate in the distribution of aid.
However, Elder said the use of such centers, which the foundation says will initially serve 300,000 people each, poses risks to children and families as they travel to access aid and could lead to further displacement.
"Using humanitarian aid as bait to force people to flee, especially from north to south, will leave them with an impossible choice: between displacement and death," said Elder, who has participated in several missions related to Gaza since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The UN official instead called on Israel to lift its more than two-month blockade of aid entering the Strip, which has caused widespread hunger and raised fears of rising deaths from malnutrition.
"There is a simple alternative, which is to lift the siege and allow humanitarian aid to enter to save lives," he said.
Since March 18, Israel has resumed its genocidal crimes by launching violent, large-scale airstrikes, most of which targeted civilians in homes and tents housing displaced persons.
