More than 30 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as Israel’s national security minister called for a “complete halt” of humanitarian aid supplies to the Palestinian territory.
Local health authorities said on Thursday that Israeli air attacks killed at least 15 people in two separate attacks in Gaza City, including nine people who were killed at a school housing displaced families in the city’s Sheikh Radwan suburb. A separate strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that nine people were killed and wounded in a drone attack on Deir el-Balah’s market street, sending Wednesday’s death toll from Israeli attacks above 30.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that three people were killed and others injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for humanitarian aid near a distribution point at the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, the latest in a series of killings at aid distribution points set up by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get food from the sites since the GHF began operations on May 27.
It said the attacks on those seeking aid have also caused 4,066 injuries, and that 39 civilians remained missing following the attacks.
According to British charity Save the Children, more than half of the casualties in the attacks near distribution hubs were children. Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them.
“No-one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it’s a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
The GHF has been criticised by the United Nations and international humanitarian organisations, which say it is inadequate to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s population.
The GHF took over aid operations in May, following mounting criticism against Israel’s months-long total blockade on aid getting into the Strip. That had pushed most of the population to the brink of starvation. Since then, a trickle of aid has been allowed in, but the disastrous humanitarian situation has barely improved.
On Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Israeli government to reimpose its total blockade.
“The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,” he said, adding that “what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to ‘humanitarian’ aid, but a complete stop.”
Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that families across Gaza are at risk of dying of thirst amid the collapse of water supply systems. UNRWA noted that only 40 percent of drinking water production facilities are still operating, and that “Gaza is on the edge of a man-made drought.
“Extracting water from wells stopped due to fuel shortages, others located in dangerous areas that are difficult to access, pipelines are broken and leaking, and water tankers that often do not arrive,” the agency said.
Diplomacy, one more time?
As Israel continues its assault on Gaza, Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition with far-right parties, insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release all captives, relinquish any role and lay down its weapons to end the war.
Hamas, in turn, has stated it would release the captives if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws all its troops from Gaza. While it has conceded it would no longer govern Gaza, Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament.