Israeli attacks kill over 60 Palestinians as Gaza blockade accelerates starvation
Israel's attacks on Gaza have killed at least 61 people since dawn, targeting civilians in crowded places, as its more than two-month blockade of the besieged and bombarded enclave has caused acute food shortages, accelerating the starvation of the Palestinian population.
A reconnaissance drone strike targeted an area near the Thai and Palmyra restaurants in al-Wehda Street, in Gaza City. Two missiles were fired at two locations at the same time, 100 metres apart, one inside a restaurant and another at the intersection, killing at least 17 people.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said the Israeli air strike targeted one of the few places where Palestinians are able to get a meal. 'The tables and chairs are all thrown around and blood stains the ground as a result of severe bleeding [due to the attack],' Mahmoud said among a crowd of residents and street vendors examining the destruction after the attack.
At the site of another attack, Mahmoud explained that people were on the ground, 'soaked in blood and shredded into pieces'.
More relentless Israeli strikes were scattered across Gaza, with 13 people killed and several more injured, in a strike targeting al-Karama School in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City. Also in the north, another three people were killed and several were wounded in a strike on a house in Jabalia.
Another eight people, including a father, his children and cousins, were killed in Khan Younis city in the south, including five in a strike on one home. Another three people, including a child, died after a tent shelter was attacked in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. A husband and wife were also killed when a house was hit in Bani Suheila village in the east of the Strip. The dead included four people who were recovered from under the rubble after an Israeli attack earlier this week on a school sheltering displaced people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The Palestinian Civil Defence agency said on Tuesday night that more than 30 people had been killed and dozens wounded there.
The intensified attacks have been compounded by an Israeli blockade on essential supplies since March 2, leaving the enclave deprived of fuel items and food, including a worsening shortage of flour. (Agencies)
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