Women mourn at the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike during the Israel-Hamas conflict, held at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Thursday. — Reuters
Gaza's civil defence agency reported that at least 33 people, including 12 guards securing aid trucks in southern Gaza, were killed in Israeli air strikes on Thursday. This latest violence unfolded just hours after the UN General Assembly called for an immediate ceasefire in the war-torn region. Seven guards were killed in a strike in Rafah, and another five were killed in Khan Younis, according to agency spokesman Mahmud Basal. The Israeli military did not respond to inquiries about the strikes.
"The occupation once again targeted those securing the aid trucks," Basal told AFP, noting that around 30 people, mostly children, were also wounded in the attacks. He added that the trucks carrying flour were en route to UNRWA warehouses, referring to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. "The occupation aims to destroy all services for citizens across the Gaza Strip," Basal said. Witnesses later reported that residents looted flour from the trucks following the strikes.
The United Nations and other aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, worsened by the ongoing war. "Conditions for people across the Gaza Strip are appalling and apocalyptic," said UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Wateridge during a visit to Nuseirat in central Gaza. She noted that life-saving aid to besieged areas in north Gaza has been largely blocked since Israel launched a sweeping offensive weeks ago.
Israeli air strikes on two homes near Nuseirat refugee camp and Gaza City killed 21 more people, including children, according to the civil defence agency. Fifteen people, at least six of them children, died in an Israeli bombing of a building sheltering displaced people near Nuseirat, Basal said. The bodies of six others killed in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City were transported to a hospital morgue.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and widespread destruction since Hamas' attack on southern Israel sparked the war. In a recent diplomatic effort to halt the violence, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, which was rejected by the United States, Israel's key military ally. However, there are signs that previously stalled ceasefire talks could resume. Families of the 96 hostages still in Gaza, including 34 reportedly dead, are demanding their release. Militants abducted 251 hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has claimed at least 44,805 lives in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations deems reliable.
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