Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir al-Balah as health officials warn of 'mass deaths' from starvation
The area is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas.
Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.
To the south in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children in a tent, medics said.
In its daily update, Gaza's health ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Hunger
Meanwhile, officials are warning of potential 'mass deaths' in coming days from hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said.
Health officials say hospitals have been running out of fuel, food aid and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
82 children starve to death in Gaza amid Israeli aid restrictions
A United Nations official has described starving Palestinians in Gaza as "walking corpses" due to a severe hunger crisis. At least 113 hunger-related deaths, including 82 children, have been reported in Gaza in recent days. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, said that 6,000 loaded aid trucks are awaiting entry in Jordan and Egypt, while Israel maintains heavy restrictions on aid delivery. Palestinians are resorting to selling gold to afford basic necessities like flour, which has seen extreme price hikes, with many, including journalists, facing starvation. The deepening humanitarian crisis comes as Israel's delegation returns from Gaza ceasefire talks, with the Israeli government attributing food shortages to Hamas.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
He went to get aid and didn't come back - stories of people killed in Gaza
A teenager who went looking for food and a man who endured months of malnutrition are among those who have died in Gaza in the past Thursday, the Hamas-run health ministry recorded two new deaths due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours, as aid agencies warned Israel's siege of Gaza was causing "mass starvation" to spread across the territory. An Israeli government spokesman denied this, saying Hamas was to blame for creating a food shortage and hijacking the UN warning that humanitarian conditions in Gaza are breaking down at an "accelerating" pace, and the World Health Organization saying that at least 10% of Gazans are acutely malnourished, the BBC has been speaking to people in the territory about loved ones they've lost in the past week. Abdullah Jendeia, aged 19 Nineteen-year-old Abdullah Omar Jendeia was killed on Sunday, 20 July, when he went out to find food, says his sister had been staying in their mother's damaged house in al-Sabra in central Gaza."He was impatient to go and fetch some food that day," Nadreen says. "I told him, 'Just eat the few lentils we have left,' but he refused."She says that at 16:00 (13:00 GMT) Abdullah left the house to walk more than 5km (3.1 miles) north to an aid truck that comes weekly, to get a few kilogrammes of flour to feed the family. He was with two of his brothers and some about 23:00 that night, one of the brothers, Mahmoud, called Nadreen to tell her that while they were waiting by the aid truck Israeli soldiers had suddenly opened fire on them. They were in the Netzarim Corridor - a military zone cutting off the north of the Gaza Strip from the told Nadreen that Abdullah had been killed and he and the other brother had been injured."He was a joy to be around, kind-hearted and fun at the same time," she says, recalling afternoon walks she and Abdullah used to take on the beach in Gaza when they were younger. "He loved football and sport."She says Abdullah used to work with local grocers, helping to carry fruit and vegetables for them and "had dreams of opening a new business after the war".In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was operating to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities and took feasible precautions to mitigate civilian said that it could "better address your query if you were able to provide coordinates" for the location of the Hamas-run civil defence agency said Israeli fire had killed a total of 93 people and wounded dozens more across Gaza on that day, mainly near aid points. Speaking about one specific incident in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at a crowd "to remove an immediate threat" but disputed the numbers killed. Ahmed Alhasant, age 41 Ahmed Alhasant, 41, died on Tuesday, 22 brother, Yehia Alhasant, says "malnutrition killed him - day after day, he was getting more and more poorly".Yehia says his brother started to become unwell after Israel imposed a blockade of aid into Gaza in March. Since May, Israel has been allowing some aid into the territory, but aid groups say this is nowhere near enough. For three months, Ahmed, who was also diabetic, was not able to get enough food or drink, relying on bits of bread and occasionally canned food, says a result, his weight plummeted from 80kg (12 stone 8lbs ) to 35kg and his health rapidly deteriorated, Yehia says."His speech was slurred and sometimes we could hardly understand him," Yehia cousin, Refaat Alhasant, says the family took him to hospital, but "they would tell us 'he needs food not medicines'. So we took him back home."Yehia says Ahmed, who used to install television satellites and was a football fan, "passed away peacefully" at his home in the city of Deir al-Balah in the centre of Gaza."He had a strong personality and was one of the kindest people you could ever meet," Yehia added. Mohamed Kullab, 29 Mohamed Kullab, 29, was killed in an air strike on 22 July, according to his Ragaida says Mohamed had been resting in his tent in a camp for displaced Palestinians in the al-Qadesiya area of western Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, when an air strike hit the area between 17:00 and 18:00 local time."He was on his own. We heard that he was killed a few hours after the bombing when some people called his sister and informed her about his death," says says he spoke to Mohamed the day before he died - they bumped into each other while looking for aid."He told me, 'don't go on your own, I will try and get you some flour'. The next day, he was dead."Mohamed leaves behind a sister and a younger brother who completely depended on him, says Amar."Kullab was a respectful young guy, who was full of life. He wouldn't engage himself in any unnecessary issues and everyone around him loved him," he response, the IDF issued a similar statement to that given for Abdullah, saying it took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm" and that it would need co-ordinates of the location where he died to look into his case any further.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Israel brings delegation home from Gaza truce talks to discuss Hamas response
JERUSALEM/CAIRO, July 24 (Reuters) - Israel brought its delegation home from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations on Thursday after Hamas delivered a new response to a proposal for a truce and hostages deal. The Israeli prime minister's office thanked mediators for their efforts and said the negotiators were returning home for "further consultations". Earlier it said Israel was reviewing the response from the Palestinian group. Both sides are facing pressure at home and abroad to reach a deal following almost two years of war, with the humanitarian situation inside Gaza deteriorating sharply amidst acute hunger that has shocked the world, and Israelis worried about the conditions in which hostages are held. Dozens of people have starved to death in Gaza the last few weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave, according to local health authorities. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year. Later on Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said two more people had died of malnutrition. The head of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the two were patients suffering from other illnesses who died after going without food for several days. Two sources familiar with the negotiations in Qatar said Israel's decision to bring its delegation home did not necessarily indicate a crisis in the talks. But the Hostages Families Forum, which represents the family members of those being held in Gaza, expressed "concern" that the Israeli team had been recalled to Israel and urged Israeli and American leaders to act quickly. "Each day that passes endangers the hostages' chances of recovery and risks losing the ability to locate the fallen or gain vital intelligence about them," the statement said. A senior Hamas source told Reuters on Thursday that the group's response said no negotiation sessions had yet been held on a prisoner exchange, which it described as a top priority, and that it had submitted a new framework on the matter to mediators. A senior Israeli official was quoted by local media as saying the new text was something Israel could work with. However, Israel's Channel 12 said a rapid deal was not within reach, with gaps remaining between the two sides, including over where the Israeli military should withdraw to during any truce. Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let in enough food for Gaza's 2.2 million people over the course of the war, and blames the United Nations for being slow to deliver it; the U.N. says it is operating as effectively as possible under conditions imposed by Israel. In Gaza on Thursday, the distribution of food to desperate Palestinians was a picture of chaos. Women going to fetch aid for their families said U.S. contractors organising distribution asked them to come to pick up goods and then fired tear gas and pepper spray at them. "The Americans said "go, go", and then said no, get back. They sprayed us with pepper spray so we went away. Five minutes later they shot tear gas at us ... is this American humanitarian aid?" said Mervat al-Sakani. The U.S. contractors are part of an effort the U.S. and Israel have backed to take the lead on aid distribution from the United Nations, through a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident. Hungry Gazans have been shot dead on numerous occasions while going to collect aid as food supplies run low. The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging since Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest single attack in Israel's history. Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times. Israeli forces on Thursday hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij. Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate airstrikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others. Nasser Hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis toward an aid distribution site near Morag. Washington has been pushing the warring sides towards a deal for a 60-day ceasefire that would free some of the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza in return for prisoners jailed in Israel, and allow in aid. U.S. Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues. An Israeli official said Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer would meet Witkoff on Friday if gaps between Israel and Hamas over ceasefire terms had narrowed sufficiently.
