GAZA STRIP. At least 20 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza on Saturday, Gaza health officials said, including eight who were searching for food. The Gaza Health Ministry said 36 people wounded in the attacks were taken from aid distribution centers to hospitals in central Gaza.
Ten people were killed in two separate attacks in central and southern Gaza on Saturday, the AP reported, citing Gaza health workers. Nasser Hospital said five people were killed in an attack on a tent where displaced people were sheltering. In another attack, two brothers and a relative were reportedly killed when a tent near the main road in Khan Yunis was hit. A mother and daughter were killed in another attack on displaced people sheltering near the gate of a prison in Khan Yunis.
Similarly, three children, including two parents, were killed when Israeli forces attacked a house between Jawaida and Deir al-Balah, the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency services said. Five other Palestinians were also killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting for aid between the newly built Morag Corridor in Rafah and Khan Yunis, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack near the aid site. However, its top general warned on Saturday that “the fighting will continue” if its hostages are not released. Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir argued that the Israeli army was also carrying out the attack to keep up pressure on Hamas for a ceasefire.
Local Palestinians are facing a severe food crisis due to Israel’s restrictions on air and ground aid deliveries to the area. On Saturday, Palestinians who had come to receive food aid were shot near a distribution point of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the international media outlet AP reported, citing witnesses. “I helped to evacuate three people who were shot, but I saw many more injured people lying on the ground in a pool of blood,” local resident Yahya Yousef, who witnessed the incident, told the AP. “The scene at that time was very terrifying, such scenarios are becoming the fate of the Palestinians here every day.”
The Gaza Health Ministry reported on Saturday that seven Palestinians had died of hunger-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. The ministry said one child was among the dead.
Responding to witnesses’ reports of continuous shooting at four US-backed aid distribution points in the northern part of the country, the GHF insisted that there had been no attacks or casualties at or near its distribution points. The humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza was described by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee as an “incredible achievement” on Friday. But a day later, the attack, which left 18 people dead, came a day after the attack. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that Palestinians in the region are facing starvation as Israel continues to block the entry of food and humanitarian aid vehicles provided by the international community into Gaza. The international community is angry with Israel’s actions after repeated violent incidents disrupted the group’s efforts to deliver aid.
International experts on hunger say that those seeking aid in Gaza are facing a crisis, and this week is the worst-case scenario for famine. The security situation in the Gaza Strip, home to nearly two million Palestinians, has deteriorated in the past 22 months since Israel launched a military operation against Hamas, and civilians in the region are facing extreme hunger due to the disruption of essential food supplies, the AP reported.
At least 93 children have died in the Gaza Strip from hunger and malnutrition since the start of the fighting between Israel and Hamas. In addition, 76 adults have also died from malnutrition, according to a count by the Palestinian Health Ministry since the end of June. Similarly, 859 people were killed in shootings at GHF aid distribution centers between May 27 and July 31, according to a United Nations report published on Thursday. Hundreds have also been killed in shootings targeting food trucks carrying food to Gaza, targeting people trying to loot food.
The GHF claims that it only uses tear gas as a warning at the distribution centers and that warning shots are fired to prevent crowds from turning violent. The Israeli army says it only fires warning shots at its soldiers approaching and that it fired warning shots on Friday to secure the roads under its control. But Israel and the GHF claim that the death toll in Gaza is “exaggerated.”
Expanding air aid
This week, several European countries, including Israel, announced plans to join a Jordanian-led coalition in airdropping parcels. However, they say the plan is still inadequate and too expensive for Gazans. “If the air. (AP/RSS)