Israeli forces escalated their assault on Gaza City Sunday, killing displaced families, demolishing residential towers, and ordering mass evacuations south as famine deaths continue to rise.
Israeli occupation forces bombed homes and sites sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on Sunday, killing scores and issuing new threats to demolish residential towers. The army ordered residents to flee southward, warning of more strikes.
Medical sources confirmed that 21 people, including six children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes since dawn, most of them in Gaza City.
Hospitals reported multiple attacks on shelters and schools. Al-Shifa and Red Crescent hospitals said six Palestinians, among them two children, were killed when Israeli warplanes targeted a school housing displaced families in the Yarmouk area early this morning.
Another strike killed two people near Al-Wafa Hospital. At least six more, including children, were killed when air raids hit tents for displaced families in Al-Rimal and apartments in Sheikh Radwan.
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Strikes also hit the eastern neighborhoods of Sheja’iyya and Tuffah, while in Khan Yunis, shelling killed one person and rescuers retrieved two decomposing bodies. In central Gaza, drones bombed the minaret of Abu Salim Mosque in Deir Al-Balah twice in one day.
The Ministry of Health reported that 87 Palestinians were killed and 409 wounded over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll since October 7, 2023, to 64,368, with 162,776 others injured.
On Saturday alone, 74 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City, including 30 people shot dead while trying to access food near Zikim.
Since the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” took control of aid distribution last May, nearly 2,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 17,000 injured by Israeli forces and foreign contractors guarding its centers.
The occupation army also dropped thousands of leaflets on Gaza City neighborhoods, urging residents to flee toward the Mawasi area in southern Gaza, which Israel designates as a “humanitarian zone.”
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Despite the designation, the area has been repeatedly bombed, with dozens of massacres recorded. Many residents rejected the evacuation orders, insisting there is no safe place in Gaza.
Residential towers have been a particular target. Israeli strikes destroyed Mashtaha Tower in the western Nasr district and Al-Susi Tower in Tel Al-Hawa, while residents of Al-Ru’ya Tower were warned to evacuate ahead of demolition. Israel claimed Hamas was using the buildings for military purposes, but the group dismissed this as a pretext for forced displacement.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that five Palestinians, including three children, died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours. This brings the famine death toll to 387, among them 138 children.
Officials warn the crisis will deepen unless crossings are opened to allow substantial aid. Famine was declared two weeks ago and is spreading south from Gaza City toward Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.
(PC, AJA)
When I was younger, I found a short question that seems to fit this situation in Gaza quite accurately: “If the word ‘vegetarian’ means ‘eating vegetables’, what does the word ‘humanitarian’ mean?” It’s the sort of thing that should be stickered to every example of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that can be found. And on every Israeli Embassy and consulate.