GAZA — Gaza’s civil defence agency has reported that a wave of Israeli air strikes hit multiple encampments for displaced Palestinians across the territory, killing at least 25 people.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said an overnight strike targeted several tents in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Yunis, resulting in 16 deaths.
“At least 16 martyrs, most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded following a direct strike by two Israeli missiles on several tents housing displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis,” Bassal told AFP.
According to Bassal, two additional strikes on other encampments of displaced people killed eight and wounded several more.
Seven were killed in a strike on tents in the northern town of Beit Lahia, while another attack near the Al-Mawasi area killed a father and his child who were living in a tent, Bassal said.
Israeli authorities block urgent Gaza humanitarian aid delivery
Stephanie Tremblay, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has said Israeli authorities continue to deny UN-planned coordinated missions to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza as an Israeli blockade on the Strip now enters its seventh week, Al Jazeera reports.
She said only two out of six planned humanitarian movements that were coordinated with Israeli authorities were facilitated yesterday. “The remaining four were denied, including one mission to retrieve fuel from Rafah which is urgently needed,” she said.
Hamas says Israel using ‘starvation as weapon’ against Gazans by blocking aid
Hamas has accused Israel of attempting to starve the population of Gaza following Israel’s renewed declaration the previous day that no humanitarian aid would be allowed into the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
“This is a public admission of committing a war crime, including the use of starvation as a weapon and the denial of basic necessities such as food, medicine, water, and fuel to innocent civilians for the seventh consecutive week,” the group said in a statement.
‘Palestinian journalists continue to do heroic work, paying a heavy price’: UNRWA chief
Philippe Lazzarini says that Israel’s ban on the entry of international media to Gaza to report independently “is fueling propaganda, disinformation & the spread of dehumanisation”.
In a post on X, he stated, “Palestinian journalists continue to do heroic work, paying a heavy price. 170 have been killed to date. Meanwhile, credible accounts & eye witness testimonies from relief organisations are being discredited [and] questioned.
“The free flow of information & independent reporting are key to facts & accountability during conflicts. Gaza should be no exception. Time is overdue to get international media into Gaza,” he wrote. — Agencies
