Israel attacks Gaza hospital, advances displacement plans
The civil defence agency said at least 18 people were killed in Israeli attacks today, which also included seven people shot dead by Israeli forces while waiting to collect food aid.
The latest toll comes as Israel advanced plans to relocate Palestinians from Gaza City, more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture the territory's largest city.
Israel's occupation of Gaza, including any expansion of its offensives, is illegal under international law.
Hamas said that Israel's Gaza relocation plan constitutes a "new wave of genocide and displacement" for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area.
The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel in southern Gaza was a "blatant deception".
The Hamas comments came in response to Israeli military plans to provide Gaza residents with tents and other shelter equipment starting from today ahead of relocating them to areas in the south of the enclave.
The total number of hunger-related deaths in the Gaza Strip rose to 258, including 110 children, according to Gaza-based health authorities.
Seven more people died from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children, the health authorities said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said yesterday on X that one million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence and abuse in Gaza.
"Hunger is spreading fast in Gaza ... Women and girls are forced to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies like venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed," UNRWA said.
The organisation urged the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than two million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale."
Yesterday, Gaza's civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment.
The spokesman added that about 50,000 people were estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life".
In recent days, Gaza City residents have reported more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including Zeitun, while earlier this week Hamas denounced "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions.
Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to seize Gaza City and neighbouring camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory.
The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.
The current stage of the war was triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Protests in Israel call for Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal
Meanwhile, demonstrators have taken to the streets across Israel calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, as the military prepares a new offensive.
The protests come more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.
Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military said are dead.
A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostage Square, which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war.
Demonstrators also blocked several roads in the city, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where demonstrators set tires on fire and caused traffic jams, according to local media footage.
Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike today.
"I think it's time to end the war. It's time to release all of the hostages. And it's time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East," said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem.
However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations.
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried "a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas".
He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively "buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future".
Footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.
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