Gaza: 149 Palestinians killed, 300 injured by Israeli forces last 24 hours
London, (The Muslim News): 149 Palestinians were killed and 300 others injured by Israeli indiscriminate bombings in Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH). The new casualty figures brings total Palestinians killed to 31,490 and injured to 73,439 by Israeli attacks according to MoH in Gaza
In addition, the hunger crisis in Gaza is deepening, rendering almost the entire population reliant on food aid that remains insufficient to address soaring needs.
The Humanitarian Coordinator, Jamie McGoldrick, said that road transport is the only solution for scaling up the flow of aid. This week, World Food Programme delivered 88 metric tons of food parcels and wheat flour for 25,000 people in northern Gaza, while warning that “famine is imminent” if the amount of aid to the area is not “exponentially” increased. During the first two weeks of March, 12 humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, six were denied, and six were postponed, according to Al Jazeera.
At least 20 Palestinians are killed and more than 150 injured in northern Gaza City when Israel attacked a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian aid.
Gaza’s Health Ministry called the attack “a new, premeditated massacre”.
The Israeli military has carried out five separate attacks on aid distribution centres in the past 48 hours in the Gaza Strip, killing 56 people and injuring more than 300 others, according to the media office of the enclave’s government.
At least one UNRWA staff member has been killed and 22 others were injured in an attack on an aid distribution centre in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to the UN agency for Palestinians.
Furthermore, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting the western and southern areas of Gaza City.
Local sources reported that the casualties occurred after Israeli warplanes and drones launched salvos of gunfire and missiles targeting a crowd of people who were waiting for the delivery of food and relief supplies near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City.
A video clip captured by a journalist at the scene of the deadly Israeli assault showed the bodies of several victims, including children, at the site of the killings.
The bodies of at least 14 slain individuals and many more wounded were transported to the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the aftermath of the Israeli killings.
The Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City is the site designated for the delivery of UN aid destined to the northern Gaza Strip, subject to the approval of the Israeli occupation authorities
The Israeli military, citing a preliminary internal review, has claimed its forces are not responsible for the deadly attack on Palestinian aid seekers in northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people and wounded 120 others.
Instead, it said, unspecified “armed Palestinians” were responsible for the violence. Those gunmen, it said, opened fire at Kuwait Roundabout on Thursday as crowds of civilians gathered there ahead of an expected aid convoy. Numerous Palestinians were also “run over by trucks” during the incident, the military said.
Witnesses and an Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Israeli forces did fire live ammunition at the crowd of aid seekers, including from tanks and a helicopter.
It would be the seventh time Israeli forces attacked aid seekers or aid convoys during the Gaza war, in attacks that have killed more than 160 people.
Some of the people injured at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City arrived at al-Shifa Hospital, a nonoperational health facility, where they are trying their best amid a shortage of staff and extreme lack of medical supplies.
People were waiting to collect aid when they were shot at by Israeli tanks. This is the second time people were shot at at this roundabout.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Israeli army has “a responsibility to facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid into and across Gaza safely, regularly and at the scale required”.
“There is no alternative to the large-scale delivery of aid by land,” it said on X, adding that airdrops are “expensive, have a limited capacity, and can harm civilians”.
The UN and other humanitarian agencies have repeatedly called on Israel to open more crossings into Gaza to facilitate the delivery of aid via land.
A report by Refugees International recently detailed how obstacles put in place by Israel were generating “famine-like conditions” in Gaza.
Nonetheless, Israel has repeatedly insisted it is not blocking the passage of aid, blaming organisations including the UN for failing to deliver adequate assistance.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said some of its members were turned away by the Israeli army as they attempted to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem to provide emergency services.
The group posted a video on X, in which soldiers can be seen blocking the way to the medical staff.
More than five months of Israeli attacks on Gaza have left nearly 23 million tonnes of debris, according to the United Nations.
This rubble – along with unexploded munitions – will take years to clear, estimates the UN.
While the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is working with mine action partners to assess the threat of unexploded ordnance in the enclave, “response efforts have been hampered by restrictions on the import of humanitarian mine action supplies and authorization requirements on the deployment of specialized personnel”, it said.
According to Israeli government 1,139 Israelis were killed by Hamas on 7 October in southern Israel and 134 Israelis and foreign nationals are still detained by Hamas in Gaza.
[Photo: Injured Palestinian child & man being treated in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after they suffered injuries by Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on 15 03 2024. Photojournalist: Ali Jadallah/ AA]
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