Israeli attacks in Gaza leave dozens killed as UN affirms Israel is blocking aid to the region
Gaza (Quds News Network) – Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and many others were injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting the cities of Gaza, Jabalia, Khan Yunis, and Rafah during the second day of the holy month of Ramadan.
While the war of attrition continues in the northern half of the strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) accused Israel of prohibiting the entry of life-saving medications and supplies into the war-torn region.
Local sources reported that the casualties from the Israeli airstrikes on Palestinians awaiting aid near Kuwait Square, west of Gaza City, since last night have risen to nine killed and dozens injured. Additionally, 17 people were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike on the Abu Shamala family home in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza.
Meantime, media reports confirmed multiple injuries in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Saudi neighborhood, west of Rafah City in Gaza. Several injured individuals, including children, were taken to the hospital.
In Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, Israeli forces carried out intense shelling targeting the Hamad City northwest of Khan Yunis. Israeli warplanes also bombed the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and launched an airstrike on the Tel al-Zaatar area in the north.
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In the central region of the strip, at least one Palestinian was killed, and others were injured due to Israeli shelling on the Abu Sanjer family home in Deir al-Balah.
The developments coincide with fierce and between Palestinian resistance and Israeli occupation forces in the eastern areas of Deir al-Balah, accompanied by intense Israeli artillery shelling.
On the preceding Monday, reports indicated that Israeli warplanes conducted violent raids on the al-Rimal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, with images showing smoke rising from the Israeli airstrikes.
UN: Israel banning essential supplies
Internationally, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, accused the Israeli occupation forces of prohibiting the entry of critically important aid, including ventilators and cancer medications, into Gaza.
Lazzarini, in a post on his X account, stated that “all of Gaza’s residents rely on humanitarian aid to survive… unfortunately, very little arrives, and restrictions increase.”
He explained that Israel refused to allow a truck loaded with medical aid because it contained scissors used in medical toolkits for children. He added, “The medical scissors are now added to a long list of banned items classified by Israeli authorities as having dual use.”
The banned list includes essential and life-saving items such as anesthesia drugs, solar lights, oxygen cylinders, artificial respirators, water purification tablets, cancer medications, and maternity supplies.
Lazzarini emphasized the need to facilitate and expedite the process of allowing humanitarian supplies to pass through and deliver essential and vital materials, as the lives of two million people depend on it.
War of attrition in Gaza
In a related context, residents of northern Gaza face shortages of basic necessities as the holy month of Ramadan begins, amid the Israeli war on the strip, imposed blockade, and closure of relief access points. UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires emphasized the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza, describing the situation of children in the strip as catastrophic.
Pires stated in a previous interview with Al Jazeera that the lives of hundreds of thousands of children are now at risk due to delays in aid delivery. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Monday that 2,000 medical staff in the northern part of the strip did not find anything to break their fast on the first days of Ramadan.
As Ramadan commences, Israeli blockade persists in worsening the conditions of Palestinians in Gaza. In the northern region, Palestinians resort to grinding animal feed to break their fast, as aid dropped by air fails to reach the thousands of starving Gazans. pic.twitter.com/iemsbwS5pP
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 11, 2024
The ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said that medical teams are facing famine in northern Gaza, calling on international and relief institutions to provide meals to hospitals in the northern part of the strip.
Due to the war and Israeli restrictions, the residents of Gaza, especially in the governorates of Gaza and the north, are on the brink of famine. The severe shortage of food, water, medicine, and fuel, coupled with the displacement of nearly two million Palestinians from the besieged Gaza, has created a dire humanitarian crisis.
Gaza’s inhabitants, numbering 2.3 million, are entering Ramadan under Israeli bombardment, displacement, and famine, making it the most challenging Ramadan for Gaza residents, given the lack of electricity, water, and food for suhoor or iftar.
Since October 7 last year, Israel has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in tens of thousands of civilian casualties, mostly children and women, along with a humanitarian catastrophe and massive infrastructure destruction, leading Tel Aviv to face charges of “genocide” before the International Criminal Court.
