Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli-caused attacks on Gaza since dawn, according to medical sources, as limited humanitarian aid has flowed into the Palestinian territory since Israel lifted its total blockade.
At least 51 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, according to medical sources, including 25 in Gaza City and northern Strip areas.
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, an Israeli attack that targeted an area housing displaced people in the al-Baraka neighborhood of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza claimed the lives of at least 10 people, including nine members of the same family.
In the as-Saftawi neighborhood of northwest Gaza, an Israeli bombing that targeted the Bakhit family home killed five people, according to Wafa.
A tank shell struck an Al-Awda Hospital’s medical warehouse in Beit Lahiya, setting it on fire, according to the health ministry, on the northern edge of the enclave.
According to the report, rescuers had spent hours trying to put out the fires.
According to doctors, tanks are stationed outside the hospital, effectively preventing access.
Collecting supplies by aid organizations
The UN reported on Thursday that the attacks occurred as aid organizations collected humanitarian supplies from about 90 trucks that have flown into Gaza since Israel’s restrictions on goods began earlier this week.
The UN Humanitarian Agency, according to Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for OCHA, had food, wheat flour, and medicine in the trucks that entered.
Insecurity, the risk of looting, and coordination issues with Israeli authorities present significant challenges for aid organizations in distributing the aid, Laerke said.
Late on Wednesday, the Gaza Government Media Office announced that international and local organizations had received 87 aid trucks to meet “urgent humanitarian needs.”
According to Tarek Abu Azzoum, who is a correspondent from Deir el-Balah, the food trucks “successfully off-loaded” at designated UN distribution centers on Wednesday.
He claimed that some bakeries have since resumed operations, citing Gaza’s media office.
Abu Azzoum praised the progress, noting that the supplies were still a “trickle” in comparison to the population’s needs in Gaza, where experts warn of a looming famine.
Our correspondent reported that food aid has not yet arrived in the northern region of Gaza because of security concerns, where thousands of civilians are also being under siege.
After more than 80 days of a complete blockade, the UN has been demanding that at least 500 food trucks be allowed into the territory every day. “The question is still whether Israel would allow an unconditional flow of aid to the Gaza Strip,” he said.
In the face of delays caused by concerns about looting and Israeli military restrictions and strikes, the UN announced on Wednesday that it was attempting to provide the desperately needed aid to Palestinians as quickly as possible.
After weeks of almost total isolation, where have Palestinians been frantically searching for basic supplies as a result of Israel’s blockade and fears of a long-term famine?
Half a million people in the Gaza Strip are currently starving, according to the UN, and one in five of those there are also in danger of starvation.
Pope Leo XIV called for “sufficient humanitarian aid” to be flown in and described the situation in Gaza as “worrying and painful.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement in recent days that Israel is still days away from implementing a new aid system in Gaza, which has drawn strong international condemnation.
He claimed that Israel intends to establish a “sterile zone” there that would house Hamas, where the population, which has repeatedly eluded and relocated throughout the conflict, would be moved and receive supplies.
Since Israel resumed its strikes on March 18, according to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 3, 509 people have died. Palestinian health authorities claim that at least 53 out of 655 people have died as a result of Israel’s October 2023 assault.
Source: Aljazeera
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