Israeli forces continued heavy bombardment across Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 20 Palestinians as UN agencies warned of mass displacement, famine, and an escalating humanitarian catastrophe.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip reported new casualties on Sunday as Israeli occupation forces continued their bombardment of residential neighborhoods and destruction of homes, Al-Jazeera reported.
At the same time, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced across the Strip.
Medical sources cited by Al-Jazeera said 20 Palestinians have been killed since dawn, including 16 in Gaza City. Among them were five members of the Al-Haddad family, killed when Israeli warplanes struck their home near the Al-Sha’biya intersection.
Al-Awda Hospital confirmed the death of one Palestinian after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in the Al-Maghraqa area, south of Gaza City. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that one person was killed and 21 others injured in an Israeli strike on Tel al-Hawa, southwest of the city.
Al-Jazeera added that the Israeli army has resorted to detonating car bombs in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood to bring down residential buildings. Military vehicles were also seen advancing east of the Dahdouh roundabout under heavy cover fire, supported by drones and reconnaissance aircraft flying at low altitude and artillery shelling around the clock.
The army, the report noted, has increasingly turned to explosive-laden cars to demolish what remains of Gaza City’s buildings ahead of further ground incursions.
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Mass Displacement and Famine
UNRWA reiterated that 1.9 million people in Gaza have been forced from their homes.
“For 2 years too long, UNRWA has been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The scale of suffering and destruction is unimaginable,” it said in a statement, adding:
“1.9 million people are forcibly displaced. Tens of thousands have been killed and wounded, including women and children.”
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, told Al-Jazeera that displaced families face dire conditions in the south, with many forced to sleep in the streets due to extreme overcrowding in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
OCHA also reported more than 28,000 cases of severe malnutrition among children under five during July and August alone—surpassing the total number of cases recorded in the first half of the year. The agency described these figures as a “warning bell” that demands urgent international action.
UNICEF, for its part, said that four trucks carrying ready-to-eat therapeutic food were looted outside its Gaza City headquarters, depriving at least 2,700 severely malnourished children of life-saving treatment amid the famine gripping northern Gaza. The organization urged all parties to protect humanitarian aid and ensure the safety of relief workers.
Backed by the United States, Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, has so far killed 65,208 Palestinians and wounded 166,271 others—most of them women and children. The famine has claimed an additional 442 lives, including 147 children.
(PC, AJA)
