Children are among the victims of Israeli attacks on the besieged northern and central areas of the Gaza Strip as humanitarian aid remains limited.
Israel has carried out a number of Attacks in the northern and central Gaza Strip, where at least 25 people, including children, were killed, according to a leading human rights group accused It is accused of committing “acts of genocide” by depriving Palestinians of clean water.
Separate Israeli attacks on Jabalia in northern Gaza, where Palestinians have been under a tight siege for more than two months, killed at least 16 people on Thursday, including 10 members of the same family.
In Gaza City, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in the Daraj district, and another person was killed in an attack on a group of civilians in the Zeitoun district.
At least four people were killed in an attack on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
There were fears that the overall death toll would rise as many people were reportedly injured in the Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military also threatened the residents of the Burei refugee camp with a forced evacuation. “The question is where people can go since everything is crowded in the central areas of the strip,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from nearby Deir el-Balah.
At least 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and 107,000 others injured in attacks in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated area at risk of famine and experiencing emergency famine conditions.
Israel began its bitter military campaign after an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023 killed at least 1,139 people and captured more than 200 others.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, many of them repeatedly, while Israel’s heavy bombardment has left much of the territory in ruins.
Referring to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Thursday that accused Israel of using water as a weapon of war in Gaza, Abu Azzoum said the search for water in the besieged and bombarded area was “a daily struggle for survival.” .
In its 179-page report, HRW details how Israeli authorities cut off and later restricted water supplies to Gaza, rendered most of the water and sanitation infrastructure unusable through power outages and fuel restrictions, intentionally destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure and water repairs, and materials were damaged; and blocked access to important water supplies.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the allegations, calling them “lies” and claiming the organization was promoting “anti-Israel propaganda.”
A separate report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released on Thursday found “clear signs of ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, particularly in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
“Our first-hand observations of the medical and humanitarian disaster in Gaza are consistent with the descriptions of a growing number of legal experts and organizations who are concluding that a genocide is taking place in Gaza,” the organization said.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has done this repeatedly ordered Israel to take all necessary measures to ensure that the Palestinian population in Gaza is immediately provided with water and basic foodstuffs.
However, Israel was still accused by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations of restricting aid flows to Gaza by effectively blocking access to the enclave.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday that Israeli authorities had “once again” denied access to Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and east of Jabalia, which are under heavy siege.
“We have emphasized that the vast majority of our efforts to reach northern Gaza governorates have been blocked since the Israeli siege began ten weeks ago. Most requests are rejected outright,” Dujarric said.
The United Nations said it had planned 96 humanitarian operations in northern Gaza, but only 16 of them were supported by Israeli authorities.
