DEIR EL-BALAH – At least 60 individuals in the Gaza Strip have lost their lives due to Israeli strikes conducted overnight and into Tuesday, as reported by Palestinian health authorities.
Israel recently initiated a significant military operation in the area, with the objectives of securing the release of hostages captured by Hamas and dismantling the militant organization.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu permitted a limited number of aid trucks to enter Gaza for the first time in 2 1/2 months, following external pressure to ease the blockade affecting the territory’s 2 million residents, which had raised concerns about potential famine.
But U.N. agencies said the handful of trucks that entered were nowhere near enough to meet the massive need for food, medicine and other supplies. Some 600 trucks a day had entered during a ceasefire earlier this year.
Two strikes in northern Gaza hit a family home and a school-turned-shelter, killing at least 22 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
A strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 13 people, and another in the nearby built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed 15, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Two strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 10 people, according to Nasser Hospital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the group operates in densely populated areas.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
The war has displaced around 90% of its population, most of them multiple times.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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