ISTANBUL

The Israeli army killed 13 Palestinians and injured dozens in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as six people died of starvation in the blockaded territory, medics said.

A child was killed in Israeli artillery shelling of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, a medical source from Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital told Anadolu.

Several civilians were injured, while others remained trapped under the rubble of a house struck by Israeli forces in the Al-Nafaq Street of Gaza City, medics said.

Citing the medical sources, the state news agency Wafa said that the Israeli army targeted a house for a Palestinian family in the Shati refugee camp, western Gaza City, killing six and injuring others.

In central Gaza, the Israeli army struck civilians waiting for aid delivery near distribution points in Wadi Gaza, killing two people and injuring 17 others, Wafa said.

The Israeli army also continued home demolitions in northern Gaza City, amid an expanded offensive to fully occupy the area.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on the eastern areas of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. No information was yet available about casualties.

Three more Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near a distribution site in western Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.

An elderly Palestinian lost his life to Israeli gunfire in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

The latest casualty came despite the army designated the Al-Mawasi as a humanitarian zone for civilians, urging Gaza City residents to move towards it before expanding its assault to occupy the northern city.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that six people, including a child, died of starvation and severe malnutrition in the last 24 hours, bringing famine-related deaths since October 2023 to 382, including 135 children.

The ministry said 104 of the deaths, 20 of them children, occurred after the UN-backed hunger monitoring system Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) formally declared Gaza a famine zone last month.

The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 64,300 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing 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.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.