Israel kills 25 Palestinians seeking aid as hospitals warn of infant mortalities
Israel killed at least 25 Palestinians trying to receive aid in the Gaza Strip on Friday as hospitals warned shortages of essential supplies were threatining the lives of infants.
At least 42 people were killed across the Palestinian enclave, including those targeted as they sought humanitarian relief in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp and Rafah in the south. Dozens were wounded, some criticially.
According to reporters on the scene, the Israeli army directly shot at civilians who gathered at a US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) relief distribution point near the Netzarim corridor, which bisects the enclave.
Eyewitness accounts say that rescue crews were unable to retrieve bodies or save wounded victims due to the heavy shelling in the area.
Meanwhile, sources at the Nasser hospital told Al Jazeera that five were killed at an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah.
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Israeli attacks on starving Palestinians have become commonplace in Gaza, with growing criticism of the GHF accusing it of militarising humanitarian aid.
The GHF was established by the US and Israel to take over aid distribution after the Israelis imposed a total seige on Gaza for three months and refused to allow the UN and other international agencies to deliver relief.
On Thursday, the Israeli army killed over a hundred people across the enclave, the majority of them aid-seekers.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, condemned the "lethal" US-Israeli relief delivery mechanism in Gaza on Wednesday.
In a post on X, Lazzarini said Palestinian lives "have been so devalued", as hundreds have been killed at aid distribution checkpoints
"It is now the routine to shoot & kill desperate & starving people while they try to collect little food from a company made of mercenaries," he said.
"Inviting starving people to their death is a war crime. Those responsible of this system must be held accountable. This is a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness."
Since reneging on the ceasefire deal with Hamas on 18 March, Israeli forces have killed at least 5,400 people in attacks targeting tents, hospitals and schools-turned-shelters.
According to Palestinian health and government officials, at least 55,706 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023.
Infants' lives at threat
Two hospitals in Gaza have warned of a looming health disaster threatening the lives of infants due to the severe shortage of essentials like formula.
Jamil Ali, director of al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, launched an urgent appeal to the international community and humanitarian organisations to "take immediate action to provide milk and save the lives of children in Gaza".
"Children are facing a real health catastrophe due to the complete shortage of baby formula," he added.
Ali described the situation as a "true humanitarian crisis for children," adding that the hospital "does not have a single carton of milk, despite receiving numerous children daily suffering from malnutrition and malabsorption."
Similarly, Ahmad al-Farra, director of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, warned earlier in the week that the lives of newborns and premature babies are at risk due to the depletion of essential milk supply.
Speaking from the paediatric intensive care unit, he said the almost total siege imposed on Gaza for four months has caused a shortage of different specialised formula types, such as premature, anti-regurgitation and lactose-free.
The director of the Tahrir Building for Pediatrics and Maternity urged international organisations and groups to step in and put pressure on Israeli authorities to allow all essential baby formula types into Gaza.
The Israeli government has been repeatedly accused by rights groups and legal experts of using starvation as a weapon of war as Palestinians - including children and infants - have been dying from starvation-related complications.
Israel, with Egypt's help, imposed a complete blockade on all humanitarian aid to Gaza for 11 weeks, before partially lifting it on 19 May to allow very limited United Nations aid deliveries and the ailing GHF scheme to commence.
Another Palestinian prisoner dead
On Thursday evening, Israeli forces handed over the body of a Palestinian detainee to Palestinian Red Crescent crews almost a week after he was announced dead.
Raed Suleiman Asasa, 57, was pronounced dead last Friday, the Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club monitors said in a statement last week.
“There is no clear information about the circumstances of the martyrdom of the detainee Asasa, except that he entered one of the occupation hospitals on [9 June]," they said.
Asasa was arrested 27 days before his death in detention, and was charged under the pretext that he entered Israel from the occupied West Bank without a permit.
Since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, 72 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons.
"The martyrdom of detainee Asasa constitutes a new crime in the record of the brutal Israeli system, which has committed all forms of crimes, including crimes against prisoners and detainees with the aim of killing them. These crimes constitute another aspect of the ongoing genocide," the monitor groups said.
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