Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israeli attacks killed 70 Palestinians and wounded 356 over the previous 24-hour period as US-backed Israeli attacks continue across the Strip amid IDF plans to significantly escalate its genocidal war.
The Israeli military has continued heavy attacks on Gaza City as it’s preparing an offensive to conquer Gaza City. The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that one attack on the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City on Thursday killed eight Palestinians, including four children.
Another Israeli strike on Sabra killed three Palestinians, and Israeli shelling in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood killed one child and injured several other people. Israel’s plans for the takeover of Gaza City involve forcibly displacing the more than one million civilians sheltering there, and while thousands have fled amid the heavy bombardment, many remain and are defiant in the face of Israel’s plans.
Palestinians in Gaza City demonstrated in the streets on Thursday, holding signs that read “stop the war, save Gaza,” “stop the genocide,” and “no to displacement.”. “We want the war on Gaza to stop. We don’t want to migrate. Twenty-two months … it’s enough. Enough death. Enough destruction,” Bizal Ghazal, a displaced woman in Gaza City, told The Associated Press.
Israeli strikes hit other parts of Gaza on Thursday, including a tent camp in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the Strip. According to the AP, the IDF warned Palestinians before the strike, and the attack completely destroyed the camp with no reports of casualties.
The Israeli military continued to kill Palestinians attempting to get food aid. The Health Ministry said that it recorded the killing of 18 aid seekers and the injury of 117, bringing the total number of deaths near aid sites to 2,036 and the number of wounded aid seekers to 15,064.
The Health Ministry said that its overall death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 62,192, and the number of wounded Palestinians has climbed to 157,114. Studies have found that the ministry’s numbers are likely a significant undercount.
