Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Sunday that Israeli forces killed 59 Palestinians and wounded 363 over the previous 24-hour period as US-backed Israeli attacks continue across the Strip and as Israel is planning to escalate its genocidal war.
The Health Ministry said the bodies of another two Palestinians killed by previous Israeli attacks were also recovered. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, where ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this time,” the Health Ministry said.
The majority of the dead, 35, were killed by Israeli forces while attempting to reach food aid, and another 304 aid seekers were injured. The Health Ministry said that since the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating at the end of May, it has recorded the deaths of 1,778 aid seekers and the injury of 12,894.
According to The Associated Press, at least 15 people were killed on Sunday while waiting for aid trucks near the Morag Corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that separates the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. Six other people were killed trying to reach aid trucks in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing.
At least 10 Palestinians were killed near distribution sites run by the GHF, including one near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza and other sites near Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. Despite the risk of death, huge crowds of Palestinians still make the trek every day to GHF sites or to reach UN aid trucks, demonstrating their severe need for food.
While Israel has allowed slightly more aid to enter Gaza amid international outrage over its starvation campaign, people in Gaza continue to starve to death due to the Israeli blockade. The Health Ministry said that Gaza hospitals recorded a total of five malnutrition deaths, including two children, over 24 hours.
“Over the past 24 hours, Gaza Strip hospitals recorded five deaths, including two children, due to famine and malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths to 217, including 100 children,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that its violent death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 61,430, and the number of wounded has climbed to 153,213. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.
