Israel pounds Gaza, kills 123 in 24 hours
At least 123 Palestinians, including 21 people seeking aid, have been killed and 437 others were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hour reporting period, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged territory.
In the same period, at least eight people, including three children, died from Israeli-imposed starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths since the war began in October, 2023 to 235, among them 106 children, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), described the deaths as 'the latest in the war on children and childhood in Gaza'.
'This is in addition to: over 40,000 children reported killed or injured due to bombardment and airstrikes, at least 17,000 unaccompanied and separated children, and one million deeply traumatised children and out of education,' he wrote in a post on X.
'Children are children. No one should stay silent when children die, or are brutally deprived of a future, wherever these children are, including in Gaza.'Gaza's healthcare system has also been the subject of targeted destruction by the Israel military, which amounts to 'medicide,' UN experts said on Wednesday, accusing Israel of deliberately attacking and starving healthcare workers, paramedics and hospitals to wipe out medical care in the enclave.
'As human beings and UN experts, we cannot remain silent about the war crimes committed before our eyes in Gaza,' said Tlaleng Mofokeng, special rapporteur on the right to health and Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
'In addition to bearing witness to an ongoing genocide we are also bearing witness to a 'medicide,' a sinister component of the intentional creation of conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza which constitutes an act of genocide,' the experts said.
'Health and care workers have been continuously targeted, detained, tortured and are now, like the rest of the population, being starved,' they added.
As the death toll continues to rise in Gaza, a delegation from the Palestinian group Hamas was scheduled to begin discussions in Egypt over a potential ceasefire on Wednesday.
The previous round of indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar ended in deadlock in late July, after Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal.
The talks in Cairo will focus on ways to stop the war, deliver aid, and 'end the suffering of our people in Gaza', Hamas official Taher Al Nono said.
A Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the news agency Reuters that 'Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war'.
A Hamas representative also told Reuters the group was willing to hand over governance of Gaza to a non-partisan committee, but would not give up its weapons before a Palestinian state is established.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to continue the war until Hamas is 'destroyed'.
Israel's security cabinet last week approved plans to take control of Gaza City, despite international condemnation from the United Nations and dissent from within Israel's own military.
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