- Health ministry says more than 260 people died in 24 hours; 1,873 kids killed in past fortnight
- Second convoy of 19 trucks carrying medical, food supplies enter Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing
Correspondent Daily Relation Times
GAZA/JERUSALEM: Scores of people rushed to Deir el-Balah hospital to identify bodies of their dear ones after Israel stepped up its air strikes on Gaza which the enclave’s health ministry described as one of the deadliest night with 266 Palestinians killed mostly in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.
Israel’s military has warned Gaza residents that they risk being identified as accomplices “in a terrorist organisation” if they do not move south, Palestinians there said, amid growing humanitarian fears with little aid being allowed in.
Authorities said Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, has suffered most from one of the most intense nights of shelling since Israel started its bombardment on October 7.
More than 260 people died in 24 hours, according to the health ministry toll, which said 1,873 of those killed in the past fortnight were children.
At the hospital morgue in Deir el-Balah, bodies were everywhere. In the southern town of Khan Yunis, one strike on the Rio cafe killed 13 people.
The health ministry confirmed that at least 266 Palestinians killed in Gaza in past 24 hours. The officials Israeli forces have killed 266 Palestinians mostly in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, Al Jazeera quoted a health ministry spokesman as saying.
Dr Ashraf al-Qudra added that 117 of the victims were children.
10 hospitals non-operational in Gaza due to fuel shortages: health ministry
Ten hospitals in Gaza have become non-operational due to fuel shortage as Israeli continues its bombardment in the Palestinian enclave, Anadolu Agency quoted the enclave’s health ministry as saying.
It added that 23 ambulances were destroyed in bombardment.
12 displaced people at UN schools in Gaza killed since Oct 7
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has said 12 displaced people at its schools in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave since Oct 7. Nearly 180 people have been injured.
Palestinian death toll in occupied West Bank surges to 91
The total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since Oct 7 has risen to 91, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a statement shared by Anadolu Agency, the ministry said that the General Authority for Civil Affairs, the Palestinian Authority’s contact point with the Israeli side, informed it of the death of a citizen — the sixth — whose identity is yet to be confirmed.
The deaths came after “Israeli forces’ gunfire near Al-Arroub camp,” the ministry stated, adding that Israeli army “fired at the Palestinian at the entrance of the Al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron”.
Palestinian PM urges world to help stop attacks on Gaza
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the international community to create a “united front” to stop Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports
“We place at the top of our priorities stopping the Israeli aggression … and bringing in medical and relief aid to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe,” Shtayyeh said during a meeting with 25 ambassadors, representatives and consuls.
More than a million people lived in the north of the Gaza Strip, and hundreds of thousands have gone southwards to cram into temporary refuges despite unremitting air and artillery strikes also hitting the southern areas they have fled to.
The first limited supplies of aid arrived on Saturday after two weeks of a total Israeli siege, but relief agencies still warn of a humanitarian catastrophe, with hospitals nearly out of fuel to power incubators and other critical equipment.
Israeli forces readying a ground assault have pummelled the 45-km (28-mile) strip since Hamas militants rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people and seizing more than 200 hostages.
The Palestinian Red Crescent logistics head in Gaza, Mahmoud Abu al-Atta, said truckloads of aid had been handed to specific agencies including UNICEF and the Qatari Red Crescent.
Second convoy of aid trucks entered Rafah border crossing
On the other hand, a second convoy of aid trucks entered the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, heading towards the Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian security and humanitarian sources at Rafah.
A total of around 19 trucks carrying medical and food supplies had been inspected by UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, the sources said.
The first convoy of 20 trucks of badly needed supplies entered Gaza on Saturday.
Israel imposed a total blockade and launched air strikes on Gaza in response to a deadly attack on Israeli soil by Hamas on Oct. 7. The Rafah crossing had been out of operation since shortly afterwards, and bombardments on the Gaza side had damaged roads and buildings.
UN officials say a higher continuous pace of at least 100 trucks a day would be required in Gaza to cover urgent needs. Before the outbreak of the most recent conflict, several hundred trucks had been arriving in the enclave daily.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told Reuters on Saturday that work was underway to develop a “light” inspection system, whereby Israel could check the shipments but ensure a sustained flow.
Hamas says destroyed Israeli tank, 2 bulldozers in Gaza
Hamas’ armed wing has said that it had destroyed an Israeli tank and two bulldozers in an ambush east of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
In a brief statement shared by Anadolu Agency, the Palestinian resistance group’s Al-Qassam Brigades said its “fighters engaged an armoured Israeli force in a well-prepared ambush to the east of Khan Yunis, just moments after it crossed the border by a few meters”.
“The fighters bravely engaged with the infiltrating force, destroyed two bulldozers and a tank, compelling the force to withdraw, and they returned to their bases safely,” the statement further noted.
Israel defence minister says war could last months
Israel’s defence minister has said the war against Hamas could take “months” but insisted it would be the last against the group.
“It will take one month, two months, three months, and at the end there will be no more Hamas,” Yoav Gallant said at an air force base whose location was not given by the defence ministry.
“Before Hamas makes contact with our tanks and our infantry, they will know the shells from our air force,” he said, adding that Israel’s fighter jets “know how to make this precise, qualitative and mortal”.
“This should be the last war in Gaza, for the simple reason that there will be no more Hamas,” Gallant said.
‘Israeli soldier killed during raid in Gaza’
An Israeli soldier has been killed by an anti-tank missile during a raid into the Gaza Strip, the military said.
Israeli troops have been conducting raids across the border, which the military says are meant to clear the area and gather intelligence about missing people and captives being held by Hamas in the enclave.
“An IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldier was killed, one was moderately injured, and two were lightly injured as a result of an anti-tank missile launched toward an IDF tank and an engineering vehicle,” the military said.
Netanyahu says French, Dutch leaders to visit Israel this week
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel this week, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the two leaders “will arrive on Monday and Tuesday” and meet with him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with US President Joe Biden. — Reuters
More WHO aid arrives in Gaza via Egypt
The World Health Organisation has confirmed that more supplies for Palestinians have entered the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing. The aid includes surgical interventions for 1,300 people, basic health services for 100,000 people for three months and treatment for 150,000 chronic disease patients.
The WHO chief reiterated that ceasefire plea to end ‘unbearable suffering’ in Gaza.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated the plea for ceasefire in Gaza “to end the unbearable suffering endured by all those living and serving” in the besieged enclave.
Fuel ‘critically low’ in Gaza, says UNRWA director
“No fuel is coming into Gaza. Fuel is really critical now, we need it coming in to keep aid operations going,” Thomas White, of UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, has said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said visuals of aid trucks on television which appear to look like fuel trucks do contain fuel that UNRWA is moving internally between depots.
Israeli military says mistakenly hit Egyptian position near Gaza border
Israeli military has said that one of its tanks accidentally hit an Egyptian position near the border with the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
“The incident is being investigated and the details are under review. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) expresses sorrow regarding the incident,” it said in a statement, giving no further details.
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes at the border with Egypt, as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, as seen from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. — Reuters
Egypt army reports ‘minor injuries’ in accidental Israeli shelling
Egypt’s military spokesman has said an unspecified number of border guards sustained “minor injuries” from “fragments of a shell accidentally fired from an Israeli tank”.
The Egyptian army said Israel “immediately expressed its regret over the unintentional incident and an investigation is underway”.
Must make sure Israel have what they need to protect their people, says Biden
US President Joe Biden, in a post on X, has said that the US government must make sure Israel’s military “have what they need” to protect themselves.
“Israel has the right to defend itself. We must make sure they have what they need to protect their people today and always,” he said, adding that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu must operate by the laws of war.
“We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace. That’s why I secured an agreement for the first shipment of humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” he added.
Meanwhile, The US State Department has warned its citizens against travelling to Iraq after recent attacks on American troops and personnel in the region.
The travel advisory says, “Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to US citizens.”
The advisory followed the ordered departure of eligible family members and non-emergency US government personnel from US Embassy Baghdad and US Consulate General Erbil “due to increased security threats against US personnel and interests,” the State Department said in a statement.
The statement added that anti-U.S. militias “threaten US citizens and international companies” throughout Iraq.
‘We just work with bare minimum’
Moen, an ambulance driver in Gaza, describes how it is work with the “bare minimum” and doing the best with what is available.
“The general situation is very very difficult here. Most or the majority of casualties are civilians especially children, women, elderly and sick,” he says, adding that there is no electricity or water in the besieged enclave.
Palestinian writer Mariam Barghouti has said Israeli military invasion and “uncontrolled settler violence” is escalating in the occupied West Bank.
She lamented the world’s denial and “dehumanisation of Palestinians”, saying: “What is happening to us is genocidal. It is ethnic cleansing.”
