More than 70 Palestinians killed in 24 hours by Israel in intensifying strikes

Palestinian Territories – AFP

As many as 77 Palestinians have been killed and 221 wounded in the past 24 hours by Israeli strikes, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza reportedly received 54 bodies and numerous injured individuals on Friday.

Hospital spokesperson Khalil Al-Dakran has confirmed the fatalities and injuries resulting from Israeli attacks in central Gaza.

The medical facility in Deir al-Balah is struggling to cope, with severe shortages of fuel, equipment, and medical supplies.

Israeli forces bombarded a refugee camp on Friday after a deadly strike on a UN-run school as its war on Gaza entered its ninth month.

An Israeli strike late Thursday killed Nuseirat mayor Iyad al-Mughari as he was visiting a water pumping station, a municipality spokesman said Friday.

A day after the school was hit, eyewitnesses said the Nuseirat refugee camp came under attack again as Gaza faced Israeli attacks from land, sea, and air.

Witnesses also reported Israeli strikes east of Deir al-Balah and intensive fire from army vehicles near the Bureij camp, where a blaze was raging.

A hospital source in Deir al-Balah said a strike on the Wafati home in nearby Maghazi camp killed six people.

Gaza also came under fire from the sea, with Israeli warships bombarding homes in the fishermen’s port and other areas west of Gaza City, an AFP correspondent said.

Osama al-Kahlut of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said “occupation forces and snipers” east of Deir al-Balah were firing on people along Gaza’s main thoroughfare.

“Gunfire on Salaheddin Street has severely restricted people’s movement, and several wounded people have been evacuated from the area,” he told AFP.

Israel has killed at least 36,731 people in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to local health ministry.

Israel has faced growing diplomatic isolation, with international court cases accusing it of war crimes and several European countries recognising a Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has meanwhile accepted an invitation from US lawmakers to address Congress on July 24, a congressional source said.

– ‘Just words’ –

Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera news quoted a high-level source on Thursday saying Cairo had “received positive signs from the Palestinian movement signalling its aspiration for a cease-fire”.

But Beirut-based senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan cast doubt on the proposal, calling it “just words”.

Qatar said on Thursday that Hamas has not yet given its response to the truce plan.

Major sticking points include Hamas insisting on a permanent truce and full Israeli withdrawal — demands Israel has rejected.

An Israeli siege on the long-blockaded Gaza Strip since early October and the widespread destruction have sparked a dire humanitarian crisis, with aid entering the Palestinian territory slowing to a trickle.

A temporary pier meant to boost aid deliveries into Gaza by sea has been “successfully reestablished” after suffering storm damage and being repaired, the US military said Friday, adding that deliveries via the pier were set to increase.

Cyprus, the Mediterranean island that is the departure point for the maritime corridor, said the repair work “hasn’t interrupted the scheduled supply of aid” and ships leaving for Gaza “has become a daily routine”.

The more effective “land routes are a priority for everyone”, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told reporters, but for now, the sea route “is the only actionable choice to send aid to Gaza, which is insufficient”.