Ten Palestinians were killed Sunday in Israeli shelling of tents housing displaced people in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, amid UN warnings of a worsening Israeli blockade of the Strip.
A medical source told Anadolu Agency that four Palestinians, including two children, were killed and others were injured when an Israeli drone bombed a tent housing displaced people west of Khan Yunis. Four others, including two children, were killed when an Israeli drone bombed a second tent housing displaced people near the city of Asdaa in the Al-Mawasi area, northwest of Khan Yunis.
A child was also killed in the shelling of a third tent march in the Al-Mawasi area, while a young man was killed in the shelling of a bicycle in the same area, according to Palestinian medics who spoke to Anadolu Agency.
The eastern areas of Khan Yunis witnessed artillery shelling and intense gunfire from Israeli occupation forces, concentrated on the town of Abasan al-Kabira to the east. In Gaza City, the occupation army continued to demolish residential buildings in the eastern neighborhoods, amid ongoing airstrikes and artillery shelling of the al-Tuffah neighborhood.
Palestinian paramedics told Anadolu Agency: "Two Palestinians were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque on Old Gaza Street in the town of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip."
For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on Sunday against Israel's prolonged ban on aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. In a post on the X platform, the agency stated, "More than nine weeks have passed since the blockade of Gaza, with Israel preventing the entry of all humanitarian, medical, and commercial aid."
She added, "The longer the Israeli blockade of the Strip continues, the more irreparable damage will be done to the lives of countless Palestinians." She continued, "We have thousands of trucks ready to enter, and our teams in Gaza are ready to expand aid delivery."
On Monday, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip recorded the deaths of 57 children due to malnutrition and health complications, amid a severe shortage of therapeutic milk, particularly for children with special needs.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported that 1,500 Palestinians have lost their sight as a result of the war of extermination, and 4,000 are at risk of losing their sight, amid a serious shortage in the health sector in the Gaza Strip, such as consumables and medical equipment for eye surgeries.
WAFA added that the ongoing war of extermination has led to a near-total collapse of surgical services, particularly for retinal diseases, diabetic retinopathy, and internal bleeding. It noted that the Gaza Eye Hospital currently possesses only three disposable surgical scissors that are frequently used, increasing the risk to patients' lives and preventing their survival.
She explained that many eye injuries resulting from explosions require medical supplies such as helon and fine sutures, which are running out. She said that the eye hospital is on the verge of declaring it will no longer be able to provide any surgical services unless immediate and urgent intervention is made by relevant authorities and international organizations.
In this context, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stated that the Gaza Strip is witnessing a wave of silent death, claiming the lives of an increasing number of the elderly and children, noting that these increasing deaths are caused by the deadly living conditions imposed by Israel on the people of the Strip. The monitor announced that 14 elderly people died in Gaza within a week due to starvation and the Israeli blockade, warning of the repercussions of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which has reached catastrophic levels and hunger has affected all segments of society.
In early March, the first phase of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel, which had been in effect since January 19, ended. However, Israel reneged on the agreement and resumed its genocide on the 18th of the same month.
Since March 2, it has also blocked the entry of relief, food, and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, on which the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are entirely dependent after the ongoing genocide has rendered them impoverished, according to World Bank data.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has continued its widespread war of extermination against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, including killing, destruction, starvation, and forced displacement, ignoring international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
This US-backed war left more than 172,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.