63 Palestinians killed in fresh Israeli attacks on battered Gaza

ANKARA

At least 63 Palestinians were killed and many others injured on Monday in Israeli attacks in the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to medics and witnesses.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid near the Israeli military post at Zikim, killing seven and injuring 90 others, a medical source said.

In nearby Beit Lahia, three more civilians were killed in an airstrike, while eight members of a group securing aid delivery were killed at Al-Twam roundabout, north of Gaza City.

In Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood, Israeli strikes killed 11 Palestinians at a civilian gathering. A separate strike in the same area killed three others.

Eight more people were killed and 50 wounded by Israeli gunfire near a US aid distribution point along the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

Three Palestinians, a man, his wife and daughter, were also killed, while others were wounded or went missing, in a strike that targeted a house in the al-Hekir area of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.

In southern Gaza, Israeli gunfire near aid centers killed at least 20 Palestinians and wounded dozens more, as civilians gathered in hopes of receiving food amid a deepening famine caused by an Israeli-imposed blockade.

Palestinian health officials have repeatedly warned that the targeting of aid sites is exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where over 2 million people face severe shortages of food, water, and medical care.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that five people died from famine and malnutrition in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll from starvation since October 2023 to 180, including 93 children.

The ministry also said that three people, including two children under 15, died from Guillain-Barré syndrome. It warned of a surge in paralysis cases linked to severe malnutrition, calling for urgent international action to provide life-saving medicines and end Israel’s months-long blockade on the enclave.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 61,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.