Israeli forces in Gaza killed 288 Palestinians and wounded 1,088 over the past three days, according to daily death toll updates from Gaza’s Health Ministry, as relentless US-backed Israeli strikes continued to pound the Strip and aid seekers continued to be killed while attempting to get food.
Heavy Israeli airstrikes hit targets across Gaza on Sunday, including Gaza City, where at least 39 people were killed, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera. The Associated Press reported that Israeli strikes on two houses in Gaza City killed at least 20.
In the al-Mawasi tent camp in southern Gaza, at least 18 people were killed by Israeli attacks, including two families. “My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin’s son and his daughter. … Eight people are gone,” Gaza resident Saqer Abu Al-Kheir told the AP.
In its latest update released on Sunday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said 80 Palestinians were killed over the previous 24-hour period. It said among those killed over the past day were eight people seeking food, bringing the total number of aid seekers killed since the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating at the end of May to 751.
The Israeli military has admitted to killing some civilians near aid sites but disputes the death toll from Gaza’s Health Ministry. However, the number aligns with daily reports coming out of Gaza, which have cited eyewitnesses, rescue workers, and medical staff at hospitals. Studies have also found that the Health Ministry’s overall death toll could be a significant undercount.
The Health Ministry said the latest violence has brought its death toll since October 7, 2023, to 57,418 and the number of wounded to 136,261. The numbers don’t account for all of the Palestinians who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble, and estimates that factor in indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege and destruction of all of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure bring the death toll into the hundreds of thousands.
