Scores killed in new Israeli strikes as starving Gazans wait for aid
Gaza health officials say Israeli airstrikes overnight through Wednesday killed at least 45 people, among them multiple women and a newborn baby.
In Khan Younis, where Israel recently issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of an anticipated ground onslaught, 24 Palestinians were killed, including 14 members of a single family.
In central Gaza, a newborn infant was among those killed in the bombardment.
The fresh bout of massacres came as Gazans waited desperately for vital supplies after Israel falsely said it let in dozens of UN trucks.
The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) aid group said the amount of aid Israel has started to allow into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip is not nearly enough and is “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over”.
“The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving,” said Pascale Coissard, the MSF’s emergency coordinator in Khan Yunis.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric noted that while aid had crossed into Gaza, logistical delays—including Israeli-mandated truck transfers and time constraints—prevented workers from delivering it to distribution centers.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday that “a strong majority” of foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc backed the move to review its trade cooperation with Israel.
Sweden said it would press the EU to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers.
Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador and said it was imposing sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank in its toughest actions so far against Israel’s conduct of the war.
The Israeli military stepped up its onslaught at the weekend, vowing to defeat the Hamas resistance movement.
Footage of southern Gaza from the Israeli side showed multiple strikes throughout Wednesday morning.
In Khan Yunis, distraught relatives cried as their family members were brought to the city’s Nasser Hospital following a strike.
The latest bombardment continues Israel’s unrelenting military campaign in Gaza, even as global criticism mounts over its expanding offensive.
Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians there so far, according to the health ministry of Gaza.
In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.
The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.
On March 18, the regime resumed the strikes on Gaza, breaking the nearly two-month-long ceasefire.
At least 53,573 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 121,688 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
