DaysofPal- At least 31 Palestinians have been killed in a fresh wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, as a blockade that has lasted more than two months continues to drive the region toward catastrophic food insecurity and widespread starvation.
The latest assaults, carried out on Wednesday, struck various parts of Gaza. In Gaza City, 13 people were killed when a strike hit al-Karama School in the Tuffah neighborhood. Further north, three individuals lost their lives and several were wounded in a separate attack on a home in Jabalia. In the southern city of Khan Younis, eight more people, including a father, his children, and cousins, were killed when their house was targeted.
Elsewhere in central Gaza, a strike on a tent shelter in Deir el-Balah killed three people, including a child. Additionally, a couple was killed in Bani Suheila village in the east of the Strip when their home was hit.
The attacks follow a deadly strike on Tuesday night that targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Civil defense teams reported 31 killed and dozens of injuries from that incident alone.
The situation on the ground remains dire. Residents in Gaza City report being in a constant state of fear, seeking shelter from ongoing airstrikes and bombardment of both residential buildings and evacuation centers.
In eastern Khan Younis, a farmer was reportedly killed while attempting to harvest what little crops he had managed to grow, highlighting the desperation many faces in trying to secure food amid the blockade.
Gaza has been under an intensified Israeli blockade since March 2, cutting off access to fuel, basic food items, and humanitarian aid. The region now faces a critical shortage of flour and other staples, with aid groups warning that food supplies are nearing total depletion.
A mother of six currently sheltering in a United Nations facility described the situation as having run out of all food except bread.
The health sector is also buckling under pressure, with 88 percent of hospital beds occupied and a severe shortage of medical disposables compounding the crisis.
Egypt and Qatar, who co-mediated the first ceasefire agreement with the United States, reiterated their commitment to a deal Wednesday morning that would end the “unprecedented humanitarian crisis and alleviate the suffering of civilians by fostering the necessary conditions for achieving a comprehensive ceasefire.”
“The two countries emphasize that attempts to sow discord among brotherly nations – whether through the casting of doubt, distortion, or media escalation – will not succeed, nor will they deter the two nations from continuing their joint efforts to end the war and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe,” a joint statement read, adding that the countries were working alongside the US to reach a deal.
While Israel announced that a new, more intense military offensive would begin in Gaza unless a ceasefire deal were signed, Hamas said talks were pointless.
“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas official Basem Naim told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.
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