The latest Israeli strikes have killed at least 38 people in Gaza, including a mother and her two children sheltering in a tent, local health officials say with no data available for a second straight day from now-inaccessible hospitals in the north.
Further details also emerged of the local doctor who lost nine of her 10 children in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 3785 people have been killed in the territory since Israel ended a ceasefire and renewed its offensive in March, vowing to destroy Hamas and return the 58 hostages it still holds from the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
Israel also blocked the import of all food, medicine and fuel for two and a half months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts’ warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel’s top allies.
Israel has been pursuing a new plan to tightly control all aid to Gaza, which the United Nations has rejected.
Israel also says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of much of its population of over two million Palestinians, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
Experts say it would likely violate international law.
The new strike on the tent housing displaced people that killed the mother and children occurred in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Only one of paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar’s 10 children survived the Israeli strike on their home Friday near the southern city of Khan Younis.
Both the 11-year-old and al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, were badly hurt.
The charred remains of the other children were brought to the morgue in a single body bag, said a fellow paediatrician at Nasser Hospital, Alaa al-Zayan.
The home was struck minutes after Hamdi al-Najjar had driven his wife to the hospital.
His brother Ismail al-Najjar, was the first to arrive at the scene.
“They were innocent children,” the brother said, with the youngest seven months old.
Israel on Saturday said: “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because it operates in densely populated areas.
There was no immediate comment from the military on the latest strikes.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 people.
Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s 19-month offensive has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead.
It does not provide figures for the number of civilians or combatants killed.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 per cent of the territory’s population, often multiple times.
https://thewest.com.au/news/conflict/israels-latest-strikes-in-gaza-kill-38-people-c-18812238
