The ministry said in its daily statement that 59 martyrs and 224 injured people arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours alone, noting that dozens of missing persons remain under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them due to a lack of equipment and ongoing attacks.
She also explained that the number of martyrs since Israel resumed its operations on March 18 has reached 11,178, while the number of victims of the bombing of aid queues since May 27 has risen to 2,203 martyrs and 16,228 wounded.
The ministry reported that the death toll from systematic Israeli starvation has risen to 322 Palestinians, including 121 children, since October 7, 2023.
The ministry's director general, Munir al-Barash, said in a post on the X platform that the sector "recorded five deaths due to famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours," bringing the total number of victims to 322, including 121 children.
He added, "Since the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) declared famine in Gaza, 44 deaths have been recorded, including 6 children."
Israeli warplanes launched intensive raids during the early hours of Friday morning, targeting residential neighborhoods and camps for displaced persons in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, al-Bureij camp, and Khan Yunis, resulting in the deaths of an additional 41 martyrs, including six aid recipients, in addition to dozens of wounded. Israeli forces also bombed the vicinity of the Netzarim axis in the central Gaza Strip, and continued their incursions east of Deir al-Balah with heavy gunfire.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army declared Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone" with the start of what it described as "preliminary operations for an attack" on it, stressing that it would not include the city in what it called a "tactical truce."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that an intensified military operation would place nearly one million people at risk of renewed forced displacement. It added, " Any further escalation, given the famine in Gaza, will exacerbate the suffering and push more people toward catastrophe."
A new epidemic with unknown symptoms
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the registration of a large number of cases of unidentified illness among the population, including fever, joint pain, coughing, and diarrhea. Diagnosis is completely impossible due to the lack of medical laboratories and essential equipment.
The Ministry's Director General, Mounir Al-Barash, explained in a post on the X platform that medical teams are forced to work with primitive methods, including using bricks to stabilize fractures, performing surgeries under mobile phone light, and using manual respiration due to power outages.
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Al-Barash asserted that "all this is happening amidst genocide, systematic starvation, and the threat of occupation of the city of Gaza, which has already begun with the bombing of residential neighborhoods." He emphasized that the people of the Strip are facing dire humanitarian and health conditions while the world remains silent.
In this context, World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain warned that famine in Gaza is "real and raging." Following her recent visit to the Strip, McCain confirmed that children and mothers are suffering from severe hunger, and that famine is at risk of spreading to other areas unless a ceasefire is reached and aid restrictions are lifted.
For his part, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the situation in Gaza as a "present-day catastrophe," warning that the expansion of Israeli operations would mark a "new and dangerous phase" that could force hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee once again. He continued, saying the Strip is "littered with rubble and bodies, examples that could constitute grave violations of international law."
Ongoing battles
On the ground battlefield, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, announced on Friday that it had targeted a Merkava tank and an Israeli armored personnel carrier with 105-mm Al-Yassin missiles in the center of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
She added, "We blew up two tanks with two high-explosive devices on Monday and Tuesday east and center of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip."
For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades announced that it had succeeded, "in conjunction with the Qassam Brigades' fighters, last Tuesday, in targeting an Israeli Eitan armored personnel carrier with a Kornet guided missile, directly hitting it east of the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City." It added: "Our fighters monitored the landing of enemy aircraft to evacuate the dead and wounded."
In this context, the Israeli occupation army claimed on Friday that it had recovered the body of one of its prisoners held in the Gaza Strip, along with the belongings of another prisoner. The statement said, "In a complex operation by the Israeli army, the body of Ilan Weiss was rescued from the Gaza Strip, and belongings associated with another kidnapped person who was killed, whose name has not yet been published, were returned."
He added, "The rescue operation was carried out by army forces under the Southern Command, in cooperation with the Military Intelligence Division, the General Security Service, and special forces." He continued, "The operation was made possible thanks to precise intelligence information from the Abductee Affairs Headquarters of the Intelligence Service and the Shin Bet," without specifying where the body was found.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
In addition to the martyrs and wounded, most of whom were children and women, the genocide left more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
