Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Monday that Israeli forces killed at least 68 Palestinians and wounded 362 over the previous 24-hour period as relentless US-backed Israeli attacks continue across the Strip.
The Health Ministry said the body of a Palestinian killed in a previous Israeli attack was 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 ministry wrote on Telegram.
Israel has stepped up its bombardment of Gaza City ahead of a planned offensive to capture the city that was approved by the Israeli cabinet last week. One Israeli strike on Sunday night hit a tent outside the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, killing five Al Jazeera journalists, including well-known reporter Anas al-Sharif, who said in a post on X a few minutes before he was killed that the IDF was intensifying strikes in the area.
Other Israeli strikes in Gaza City targeted the al-Zeitoun neighborhood. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, one strike in al-Zeitoun killed a family of eight: a mother, a father, and their six children.
Residents of Gaza City described the heavy bombardment to Reuters. “It sounded like the war was restarting,” said Amr Salah, a 25-year-old from the area. “Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza.”
Israeli troops also continued to gun down desperate Palestinians seeking aid. According to the Health Ministry, at least 29 aid seekers were killed and another 127 were wounded. Since the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating at the end of May, the ministry has recorded the deaths of 1,807 aid seekers and the injuries of 13,021.
On top of the violent deaths, Palestinians continue to starve to death due to the US-backed Israeli blockade. “Gaza hospitals recorded five deaths due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including a child,” the Health Ministry said. “This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 222, including 101 children.”
The Health Ministry said that the violent death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 61,499, and the number of wounded has climbed to 153,575. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.
