Deir Al-Balah
(Gaza Strip) — Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight
into Thursday killed at least 23 people, including a family of 10, local health
officials said.
The United Nations meanwhile raised alarm over the
mounting impact of Israel's six-week-old blockade preventing all food and other
supplies from entering the territory.
Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month and
renewed its bombardment, killing hundreds of people and seizing large parts of
the territory to pressure the militants to accept changes to the agreement.
A strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed five
children, four women and a man from the same family, all of whom suffered
severe burns, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Strikes
in northern Gaza killed 13 people, including nine children, according to the Indonesian
Hospital.
The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harming
civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because it operates in residential
areas. There was no immediate comment on the latest strikes.
The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said that
almost all of Gaza's more than 2 million people now rely for food on the only 1
million prepared meals produced daily by charity kitchens supported by aid
groups.
Other food distribution programmes have shut down for
lack of supplies, and the UN and other aid groups have been sending their
remaining stocks to the charity kitchens.
The only other way to get food in Gaza is from markets.
But most cannot afford to buy there because of spiralling prices and widespread
shortages, meaning humanitarian aid is the primary food source for 80 per cent
of the population, the World Food Programme said in its monthly report for
April on Gaza's markets.
“The Gaza Strip is now likely facing the worst
humanitarian crisis in the 18 months since the escalation of hostilities in
October 2023,” OCHA said.
Most people in Gaza are now down to one meal a day, said
Shaina Low, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council. “It's far lower
than what is needed,” she said.
Water is also growing scarce, with Palestinians standing
in long lines to fill jerry cans from trucks. Omar Shatat, an official with a
local water utility, said people are down to six or seven litres per day, well
below the amount the UN estimates is needed to meet basic needs.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that
preventing humanitarian aid is one of the “central pressure tactics” used
against Hamas, which Israel accuses of siphoning off aid to maintain its rule.
Israel is demanding that Hamas release more hostages at
the start of any new ceasefire and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the
territory. Katz said that even afterward Israel will continue to occupy large
“security zones” inside Gaza.
Hamas is currently holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are
believed to be alive. It says it will only return them in exchange for the
release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and
a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached
earlier this year.
Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his
kitchen has food for about three more weeks.
“But food is loosely defined. We have pasta and rice but
nothing much beyond that. No fresh produce. There is no chicken or beef. The
only thing we have is canned meat,” he said. He said 15-20 per cent of the
people who come to his kitchen for food leave empty-handed.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern
Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire
agreements or other deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of
bodies.
Israel's offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians,
mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does
not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has
killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its
food production capabilities. The war has displaced around 90 per cent of the
population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and
bombed-out buildings.
