GAZA/CAIRO: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has emphasized that Israeli ‘siege must end’ as death toll from Israeli bombardment throughout the day in the besieged Gaza Strip now stands at 51, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.
More than 124,000 people in Gaza have been displaced over the past few days after being forced to flee relentless bombardment, UNRWA said.
“The Israeli authorities have cut off all aid. Food is scarce and prices are soaring. This is a humanitarian catastrophe,” the United Nations Palestinian relief agency said in a post on X.
“The siege must end.”
The death toll from Israeli bombardment throughout the day in the besieged Gaza Strip now stands at 51, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.
The death toll is likely to rise as incessant attacks continue in the north and south of the Palestinian enclave.
Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat killed in Israeli strike in Gaza
Hossam Shabat, Palestinian journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera Mubasher, has been killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted his car in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
Since the offensive started, at least 208 journalists have been killed in widespread Israeli attacks on the enclave.
6 Palestinian paramedics still missing as Israel attacks Rafah
Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency says it lost contact with six of its members who went on a rescue mission in the southern city of Rafah, Al Jazeera reports.
Its first responders and others from the Palestine Red Crescent Society went to Rafah on Sunday after receiving calls that Israeli troops entered the area of al-Hashaashin, in western Rafah, and there were casualties.
Since then, there’s been no word from the rescuers, the agency said in a statement.
Gaza health ministry says 730 killed since Israel resumed strikes on Palestinian territory
The health ministry in Gaza has said that 730 people had been killed since Israel resumed bombardments on the Palestinian territory on March 18, including 57 in the past 24 hours, AFP reports.
The ministry said in a statement that it recorded “730 deaths and 1,367 injuries” since air strikes resumed and 57 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll since the onslaught started on October 7, 2023, to 50,082.
Germany says Gaza civilian deaths ‘extremely worrying’
Germany has said that civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip were “extremely worrying” as Israel’s military presses a renewed assault on Hamas in the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
“It is now very clear that we must quickly return to negotiations and to the ceasefire that was in place,” foreign ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said in Berlin.
Thousands trapped in Rafah’s Tel Al-Sultan area as Israeli forces arrive
The municipality in Gaza’s Rafah has said thousands of people were trapped inside the Tel Al-Sultan area, where the Israeli military had sent some of its forces, Reuters reports.
“Contacts with the neighbourhood are cut off completely and the fate of (people) is unknown. Families are trapped among the ruins, with no water, no food, no medicine, amid a total collapse of healthcare services,” it said in a statement.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service has said 50,000 residents remain trapped in Rafah.
Gaza health ministry says targeting of Nasser Hospital a ‘war crime’
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has condemned Israel’s bombing of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which killed two people and destroyed the male surgical ward, Al Jazeera reports.
“This attack constitutes a new war crime added to the record of repeated Israeli violations against civilians and medical facilities, which flagrantly violate the rules of international humanitarian law,” Munir al-Barsh, Director General of the Ministry of Health, said in a statement.
This “not only demonstrates a blatant disregard for the lives of innocent people, but also hinders the provision of life-saving medical services at a time when patients and the wounded need the utmost care.”
Al-Barash called on the international community and humanitarian organisations to take urgent action and for an independent international investigation to be launched.
“We also call on all people of conscience around the world to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and pressure international bodies to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its ongoing crimes against humanity,” he added.
Israel says it’s trying to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the military is doing its best not to harm Palestinian civilians as it attacks Hamas in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
“Israel is not fighting the civilians in Gaza and is doing everything that international law requires to mitigate harm to civilians,” Katz said in a statement.
He went on to blame Hamas for civilian deaths, saying the group “fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes and from behind civilians”, putting them in danger.
