Hundreds of Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza as UNRWA Warns of ‘Catastrophic Situation’

A UN-backed group declared famine in Gaza. (Photo: social media, via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The Israeli army said on Thursday that its warplanes carried out more than 170 strikes across the Gaza Strip over the past day, as ground operations continued in Gaza City and other parts of the enclave.

Hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip announced the deaths of 30 Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes since dawn on Thursday, bringing the death toll to over 65,500 since October 2023.

According to Al Jazeera Arabic, Israeli airstrikes targeted homes in several areas, with three Palestinians killed, two of them in the al-Nafaq area of ​​Gaza City, and the third in Khan Yunis, south of the Strip.

Also in Khan Yunis, Israeli warplanes targeted four Palestinians, including two women, and wounded 13 others in a bombing of the Wadi family home. A young man was killed in an airstrike targeting the town of Bani Suhaila, east of the city.

In the central Gaza Strip, 11 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed and nine wounded in an airstrike on a house in the town of al-Zawaida.

Gaza City

In Gaza City, home to approximately one million Palestinians, 15 Palestinians, including four children, were injured in the bombing of a house in the al-Tuffah neighborhood in the east of the city, the report stated.

Israeli drones also fired bombs at civilian homes around Birkat al-Sheikh Radwan (north), while artillery shelled areas west and north of the city.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that 83 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 216 people were injured, taking the number of those killed to 65,502 with 167,376 injured in Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on the enclave which began in October 2023.

“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry said in a statement.

Aid Seekers Killed

The ministry also noted that seven Palestinians were killed and 50 others injured by Israeli army fire while trying to get humanitarian aid in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking aid to 2,538, with over 18,581 others wounded since May 27.

The Gaza Precedent: How the World’s Response Will Shape Global Justice

The Israeli army said on Thursday that its warplanes carried out more than 170 strikes across the Gaza Strip over the past day, as ground operations continued in Gaza City and other parts of the enclave, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Statehood Feasibility Undermined – UNRWA

Meanwhile, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that “the catastrophic situation” in occupied Palestine “threatens the entire region.”

“Evidence is abundant of international crimes perpetrated with the full knowledge of the international community,” Lazzarini told the Meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in New York on Wednesday.

He said the Israeli government “is implementing a long-standing project to undermine the feasibility of a Palestinian State and separate Palestinians from Palestine,” with dismantling UNRWA “a principal element of this project.”

“It is why the Agency has been attacked relentlessly, with 370 colleagues killed; hundreds of premises destroyed; and financial support strangled,” he stated.

Lazzarini urged UN member states to “safeguard UNRWA’s role within a time-bound political process and finance the provision of essential services until that process is complete.”

UN Summit

World leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York this week to discuss various global issues, including the recognition of a Palestinian state.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza to be stopped.

‘Enough Words’ – Colombian President Calls for Army ‘to Defend Palestine’

Humanity cannot allow a single day more of this genocide, for the genocidal Netanyahu and his allies in Europe and the United States to continue,” Petro stated.

He urged the nations of the world to “bring together weapons and armies to defend Palestine,” saying, “what we need is a powerful army of countries that do not accept genocide.”

(PC, AJA, Anadolu)

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