SRINAGAR: At least 143 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip in a fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes that began at dawn on Thursday, medical sources told Al Jazeera , compounding what humanitarian officials now describe as a catastrophic spiral of death, displacement and starvation in the besieged territory.
The latest bombardments struck residential areas, hospitals, and shelters on what Palestinians mark as Nakba Day, commemorating the 77th anniversary of the 1948 mass displacement and expulsion that accompanied the creation of the Israeli state.
One of the deadliest attacks on Thursday was on the al-Tawbah medical clinic in the Jabalia refugee camp, where at least 13 people were killed, including children. Witnesses described scenes of horror, saying patients were “torn apart” on the clinic’s upper floors.
In Khan Younis, the southern city already battered by months of bombardment, 54 people were killed overnight in at least 10 separate Israeli strikes, according to Nasser Hospital officials and eyewitnesses on the ground. Among the dead was Hasan Samour, a journalist with Al Araby TV, who perished along with 11 members of his family when their home was hit.
“These people were not fighters. They were sleeping. We pulled babies out from the rubble,” a Civil Defense official in Khan Younis told the Associated Press.
The Gaza Health Ministry now reports a staggering death toll: at least 53,010 Palestinians killed and nearly 120,000 wounded since Israel’s offensive began in response to the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which left 1,139 people dead in Israel and more than 200 taken hostage. The Government Media Office in Gaza, citing bodies presumed buried under rubble, puts the actual death toll at over 61,700.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN agencies say the death toll is rising not only due to airstrikes but also because of malnutrition and disease. The WHO confirmed this week that at least 57 children have died from malnutrition since Israel imposed a full aid blockade on March 2. The number of under-five children projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in Gaza over the next 11 months now stands at nearly 71,000.
The head of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, denounced what she described as the world’s indifference to the scale of child casualties in Gaza. “The killing of 45 children in Israeli airstrikes in just two days should shock us all,” she said in a statement on Thursday. “Instead, it is largely met with indifference. This horror must stop.”
“More than one million children in Gaza are at risk of starvation. They are deprived of food, water, and medicine. Nowhere is safe for them,” she warned.
Thursday’s escalation has also pushed Gaza’s health system beyond the brink. The European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza’s last remaining facility providing specialised treatments such as cancer and cardiac care, has been shut down after being struck twice by Israeli airstrikes earlier in the week. The Israeli military claims it was targeting a Hamas command center beneath the hospital.
Hospital director Imad al-Hout confirmed that all 200 patients had to be evacuated. “We are unable to provide even basic care now. There is no more room, no more medicine, no more time,” he told the Associated Press.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the strike. “Hospitals must never be militarised or targeted,” he said on social media. “The closure of European Gaza Hospital has cut off neurosurgery, cardiac care, and cancer treatment—none of which are available elsewhere in Gaza.”
The humanitarian situation is now described as “apocalyptic.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Thursday that nearly half a million Palestinians face imminent starvation, while one million more are barely subsisting.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza has entered its third month, halting food, medicine, and all humanitarian aid. UN teams say that hot meal distribution has fallen from one million per day to just 249,000, and aid warehouses are rapidly depleting.
At a makeshift kitchen in Beit Lahia, displaced mother Um Abed waited in line from 9 am and returned empty-handed for the second day in a row. “I have a 3-year-old who is crying all day because he wants to eat. We want them to stop the war and allow food in,” she told local media, holding up her empty pot.
Israel has issued a new wave of displacement orders, affecting tens of thousands of people across Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, as well as six neighbourhoods in North Gaza. OCHA estimates that 71 per cent of the Gaza Strip is now either under active evacuation orders or designated Israeli militarised zones where humanitarian teams are restricted.
These latest evacuations affect over 100,000 people and include essential infrastructure such as eight wells, three health clinics, and several UN-run temporary schools serving around 700 students. “Hundreds fled on Wednesday,” said OCHA, “but many have returned due to lack of shelter.”
Human Rights Watch issued a strong statement on Thursday, warning that Israel’s declared intent to seize Gaza and displace its population “inches closer to extermination.” The group urged international signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent further atrocities and called for Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Israel denies accusations of genocide. Spokesperson David Mencer dismissed reports of famine, claiming Hamas was hoarding supplies. “They need to open up the food to the people,” he told reporters.
But with 9,000 trucks of aid waiting at the border and no signs of the blockade being lifted, UN officials say “time is of the essence.”
“People are terrified,” said OCHA spokesperson Olga Cherevko. “They tell me every day they don’t know how they will survive.”
