Israel kills at least 61 Palestinians in less than 24 hrs as 14,000 Gaza children face death due to starvation
Plumes of smoke rose Thursday over the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli military asked Palestinians to evacuate, as Israel's intensified genocidal operations across the territory killed more than 61 people since dawn on Thursday.
The latest evacuation warning for parts of Gaza City and neighbouring areas came hours after the United Nations said it had begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, which the UN described as a "drop in the ocean" as Israel's three month-long blockade of humanitarian assistance has pushed the entire population to a famine-like situation.
The World Food Programme (WFP) later said a "handful of bakeries" had resumed making and distributing bread.
The Government Media Office in Gaza reported the arrival of 87 aid trucks.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that "a small number of trucks carrying flour were intercepted by residents and their contents removed".
Dujarric said it "was not a criminal act with armed men", but "what I've been referring to sometimes as self-distribution, which I think only reflects the very high level of anxiety that people in Gaza are feeling not knowing when the next humanitarian delivery will take place."
Echoing the UN's statement that the meagre aid is just "a drop in the ocean," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that Gaza needs some 1,000 to 1,200 trucks a day to address the 'immense' needs of the population.
'The president of the Palestinian Red Crescent today said that a couple of trucks entering is an invitation for killing. People are desperate – we need much more humanitarian aid, we need food, we need water, we need commercial items, we need medicines, formula for babies,' IFRC spokesperson Tommaso Della Longa told Al Jazeera.
He stressed that a lack of healthcare is a huge cause of 'silent death' in Gaza, as people with chronic conditions, such as cancer or kidney disease, cannot access treatments like chemotherapy and dialysis because multiple hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been shitting down due to Israel's continues attacks. Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid, including medicines, has also made treatment impossible for those in need.
"This is simply unacceptable... Thinking about this [happening] in 2025 is shocking," he said.
UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher had on Tuesday said that over 14,000 children could die in Gaza in the next 48 hours if sufficient aid did not reach them in time.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Fletcher remarked that the aid that entered Gaza after Israel's recent announcement was a 'drop in the ocean' and totally inadequate for the population's needs.
Calling the figure "utterly chilling," Fletcher told the BBC that he "wants to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.'
Gaza's Government Media Office (GMO) had earlier this month said that nearly 2,90,000 children in Gaza are on the brink of death due to Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid.
'At a time when 1.1 million children daily lack the minimum nutritional requirements for survival, this crime is being perpetrated by the 'Israeli' occupation using starvation as a weapon, amid shameful international silence,' the GMO had said in a statement.
At least 57 Palestinians have so far starved to death in Gaza, causing international outrage against Israel's alleged weaponisation of starvation, which amounts to a war crime.
Under global pressure to lift the blockade and halt the intensified genocidal operations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a "temporary ceasefire", but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring all of Gaza under its control.
In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was acting "with intense force" in 14 areas of the northern Gaza Strip, including parts of Gaza City and the Jabalia refugee camp.
A map posted alongside the warning showed a swath of territory marked in red, with the army accusing "terrorist organisations" of operating there and urging civilians to move south.
(With inputs from AFP)
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