Israeli forces kill 18, including two at aid distribution point, Gaza civil defense says
The war since October 2023 has created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population of more than two million, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials.
The civil defense agency told AFP on Tuesday that its 'crews have transported at least 18 martyrs and dozens of wounded since dawn,' most of them following Israeli air strikes on the northern Gaza Strip.
One strike hit a tent in Gaza City housing displaced Palestinians, killing six people, according to the civil defense agency.
In the southern area of Rafah, two women were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution point, the agency said, adding that 13 people were wounded in the incident.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.
The United Nations said that at least 875 have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May -- when Israel eased a two-month aid blockade -- with most killed near sites run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
On the outskirts of Gaza City on Tuesday, AFP footage from Al-Shati refugee camp showed Palestinians searching for survivors through the rubble of a family home hit in a strike that the civil defense said killed five people.
Jihad Omar, who was using his bare hands to dig through the concrete ruins, said he was looking for two children.
'Every day, we bury children, women and elderly people. Homes collapse on the heads of their residents,' the 48-year-old told AFP.
'Find a solution,' he said.
'Let us raise those (children) who remain. We barely have any left.'
Hamas meanwhile announced the Israeli 'assassination' of a member of its political leadership, Muhammad Faraj al-Ghoul, who once served as a minister in the group's Gaza government.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military its forces had targeted 'several Hamas members in the Al-Shati area,' without offering further details.
It did not comment on the other strikes reported by the civil defense agency, but said in a statement that troops had 'dismantled a terrorist tunnel' in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza.
The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants that day, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's military offensive, now in its 22nd month, has killed at least 58,479 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
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