Children were among the 11 Palestinian people killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential home in the town of Abasan al-Jadida, in southern Gaza on Friday, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting. Other people were injured in the airstrike, several of whom are reported to be in “critical condition”. Israeli tanks and drones fired on northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital on Thursday, sparking fires and causing extensive damage to the facility, according to hospital officials. Hospital director Mohamed Salha told the Associated Press about the “horror” that ensued overnight as Israeli forces bombed the third floor and used quadcopters, tanks, and drones to shoot at the hospital’s fuel tanks and units storing medication. The hospital has said the lives of patients and medical staff are in danger. Gaza’s health ministry has accused Israel of intensifying its “systematic campaign” to target hospitals across the Strip, which are supposed to have special protection under the rules of war. At least 20 medical facilities across Gaza have reportedly been damaged, or forced partially or completely out of service, in the past week by the renewed Israeli assault on the territory, and the numerous evacuation orders issued across the Strip. Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has expressed a cautious sense of “hope” as she confirmed that a “handful” of bakeries are back in operation after the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was eased to a bare minimum level. “We need more wheat flour, more fuel, more safe access—so more ovens can fire back up to feed families desperately in need,” McCain wrote in a post on X. We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza. UN teams have reportedly collected over 90 lorry loads of aid inside Gaza, containing flour, baby food and medical equipment. Some bakeries started making bread with the flour on Thursday. Other aid has started reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas, but the level is totally inadequate for the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million population. Charities have warned that much of the population have been brought to the brink of famine due to the effects of the total Israeli blockade on aid, imposed in early March, which was only eased earlier this week amid mounting international pressure. The blockade, which Israel says was to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages, is widely seen as the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza and a breach of international law. Palestinian Red Crescent President Younis Al-Khatib said yesterday that many trucks were still at the border at the Karem Shalom crossing. About 500 lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war, and there continues to be significant shortages of basic foods and inflated prices, with medics warning that malnutrition is spreading across the territory. Palestinian Authority health minister Majed Abu Ramadan said yesterday that 29 children and elderly people had died from “starvation-related” causes in the last couple of days. Asked to react to comments made by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: “The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)“. Gaza’s civil defence agency, meanwhile, said Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people across the territory since midnight, as the Israeli military’s renewed assault continues despite western allies’ denouncements.
Author: Yohannes Lowe