Dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive aid from World Food Program USA on Thursday. Starvation is intensifying amid more Israeli airstrikes against Hamas on the Gaza Strip. Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE
June 28 (UPI) -- Dozens of Palestinians died in several rounds of Israeli airstrikes from Friday night until Saturday morning, officials said.
At least 44 people died in the Gaza Strip since dawn, hospital sources told Al Jazeera Arabic. The Guardian reported at least 62 people died in overnight strikes.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by the Iran-funded militant group Hamas, said 81 people have died and 422 were wounded over 24 hours.
Al Jazeera reported an airstrike in a residential building in Gaza City killed at least 20 Palestinians, including nine children.
"We were sitting peacefully when we received a call from a private number telling us to evacuate the entire block immediately -- a residential area belonging to the al-Nakhalah family. As you can see, the whole block is nearly wiped out," Mahmoud al-Nakhala told Al Jazeera.
"We still don't know why two, three-story homes were targeted ... It's heartbreaking that people watch what's happening in Gaza -- the suffering, the massacres -- and stay silent. At this point, we can't even comprehend what's happening here anymore," he added.
Rescuers were working to remove victims from under rubble. Those hurt were taken to al-Ahli Hospital, which is lacking medical resources.
There were also drone strikes elsewhere on Gaza Strip, including in the city of Khan Younis and the Bureij refugee camp.
The Guardian reported that a dozen people were killed near a displacement camp near Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, after which a nearby airstrike nearby killed at least 11 people and a family sleeping in a tent was reported to have died in a strike in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza.
At least 56,412 Palestinians have been killed 133,054 wounded since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Hamas' attack on Israel that day killed approximately 1,200 people and 251 hostages were taken.
President Donald Trump on Friday said there could be a cease-fire agreement "within the next week" despite no signs of negotiations underway.
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have worsened since Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18 after a cease-fire that ran from Jan. 19 to March 1. Unicef said last week that 60% of water production facilities in Gaza weren't working and acute child malnutrition increased 51% from April to May.
In a separate strike in southern Lebanon on Friday, Israel Defense Forces killed Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Muhammad Hammoudi, the military told the Jerusalem Post on Saturday night.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of continually violating the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal.
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UPI
21 hours ago
- UPI
Dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive aid from World Food Program USA on Thursday. Starvation is intensifying amid more Israeli airstrikes against Hamas on the Gaza Strip. Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE June 28 (UPI) -- Dozens of Palestinians died in several rounds of Israeli airstrikes from Friday night until Saturday morning, officials said. At least 44 people died in the Gaza Strip since dawn, hospital sources told Al Jazeera Arabic. The Guardian reported at least 62 people died in overnight strikes. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by the Iran-funded militant group Hamas, said 81 people have died and 422 were wounded over 24 hours. Al Jazeera reported an airstrike in a residential building in Gaza City killed at least 20 Palestinians, including nine children. "We were sitting peacefully when we received a call from a private number telling us to evacuate the entire block immediately -- a residential area belonging to the al-Nakhalah family. As you can see, the whole block is nearly wiped out," Mahmoud al-Nakhala told Al Jazeera. "We still don't know why two, three-story homes were targeted ... It's heartbreaking that people watch what's happening in Gaza -- the suffering, the massacres -- and stay silent. At this point, we can't even comprehend what's happening here anymore," he added. Rescuers were working to remove victims from under rubble. Those hurt were taken to al-Ahli Hospital, which is lacking medical resources. There were also drone strikes elsewhere on Gaza Strip, including in the city of Khan Younis and the Bureij refugee camp. The Guardian reported that a dozen people were killed near a displacement camp near Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, after which a nearby airstrike nearby killed at least 11 people and a family sleeping in a tent was reported to have died in a strike in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza. At least 56,412 Palestinians have been killed 133,054 wounded since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Hamas' attack on Israel that day killed approximately 1,200 people and 251 hostages were taken. President Donald Trump on Friday said there could be a cease-fire agreement "within the next week" despite no signs of negotiations underway. Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have worsened since Israel resumed airstrikes on March 18 after a cease-fire that ran from Jan. 19 to March 1. Unicef said last week that 60% of water production facilities in Gaza weren't working and acute child malnutrition increased 51% from April to May. In a separate strike in southern Lebanon on Friday, Israel Defense Forces killed Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Muhammad Hammoudi, the military told the Jerusalem Post on Saturday night. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of continually violating the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal.
a day ago
Inside one of Gaza's last functioning hospitals: How staff in Nasser Hospital are fighting to keep people alive
GAZA -- As the conflict between Israel and Hamas grinds on, the health system in the Gaza Strip has nearly collapsed, with doctors and international aid organizations warning that the last remaining major hospital in southern Gaza is now at imminent risk of not being able to function due to a lack of supplies and staff needed to treat the wounded and sick. The Nasser Medical Complex, located in central Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was once a lifeline for the southern region of the strip. Now, it is surrounded by neighborhoods under evacuation orders from the Israeli military, and the roads leading to it are under frequent bombardment and shelling. Despite being designated by the Israeli military as a facility that should not be evacuated, the surrounding area is labeled as a red zone by the Israeli military, meaning citizens in the area should evacuate because military action is likely to occur in the area. The Israeli military has previously called for evacuations of hospitals in Gaza after evacuating surrounding areas, in advance of large-scale raids which the IDF said were militarily necessary as Hamas operatives had embedded themselves within those hospitals. The IDF previously raided Nasser hospital itself, spending a week at the complex in February 2024. The IDF has also attacked Nasser hospital without issuing evacuation orders. In March of this year, it conducted a strike on the surgery wing of the hospital. The IDF said it was targeting a member of Hamas' political bureau operating from the hospital and confirmed the strike in a statement at the time. Hamas said the senior Hamas member who was targeted, Ismail Barhoum, was receiving medical treatment in the hospital when he was killed. A doctor at the hospital said a teenager was also killed in the attack. "The hospital continues to function, continues to provide extremely high-level service even with limited resources," Dr. Mark Brauner, an emergency physician who recently left the facility, told ABC News in an interview Thursday. "But it's extremely uncomfortable to be in close proximity to warfare. Bombs are exploding just hundreds of meters away, and gunfire can be heard throughout the day." Dr. Brauner said the staff at Nasser Hospital are treating patients who are not only suffering from injuries caused by airstrikes but also from chronic malnutrition. "One of the most important aspects of healing from an injury is protein intake, and they have no protein in their diets," he said. That delays healing and increases the risk of infection, he said, adding, "There are at least 100 children at direct risk due to the lack of pediatric formula." The Israel-Hamas war has taken a grim human toll. Since the war began, nearly 56,000 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 131,000 have been wounded, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led surprise attack on southern Israel. Hundreds more were taken hostage. At least 20 living hostages are believed to still remain in Hamas captivity. Nasser Hospital is now the only fully functioning major hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. The few remaining hospitals in Gaza City are operating at minimal capacity, and there are no functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. "Medical services are critically under-resourced, with nearly half of essential supplies already out of stock, and over one fifth, 21 percent, projected to run out in two months," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said in a June 20 update. Also known as UNRWA, the organization is the main UN agency operating inside Gaza. Just five out of 22 UNWRA-run health centers and two UNRWA-rented facilities used as temporary health centers are still operational in Gaza as of June 15, UNWRA said. The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health describes a dire situation when it comes to the territory's health system. "The remaining operating hospitals in the Strip will have no more time to continue operating in the face of the serious crises they face. Hospitals are experiencing overcrowding with wounded and sick patients, exceeding their capacity, especially in inpatient and intensive care units," the ministry said in a June 25 statement. Overall, just 45 of Gaza's 312 operating rooms are still in service, and most are functioning with extremely limited capacity, the Gaza Ministry of Health said. Cancer and heart patients are among the most impacted by the medicine and medical supply shortage, with 47% of essential medicines and 65% of medical supplies now at zero stock, the ministry said. Nine out of 34 oxygen stations are partially operational, and blood banks are nearly empty, according to the ministry. "Community blood donation campaigns have become futile due to worsening malnutrition and anemia," the ministry said. The supplies impacted include "medicine for non-communicable diseases, antimicrobials and antiparasitic products, dermatological and eye preparations, analgesic and anti-inflammatory medications, gastrointestinal products, respiratory medications and family planning methods," UNWRA said in the situational update. Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) delivered a shipment of medical aid to Gaza for the first time since March 2, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on the social platform X. The shipment of nine trucks included "essential" medical supplies, 2,000 units of blood and 1,500 units of plasma, Ghebreyesus said. The supplies were transported from Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing point without any reported looting, and the blood and plasma were delivered to Nasser Hospital's cold storage facility for distribution to other medical centers, the organization and the hospital reported. COGAT, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli authority that oversees supplies that enter the Gaza Strip, confirmed the shipment of medical supplies. "Along with the blood units, truckloads of medical supplies and emergency and chronic care medicines entered Gaza to support the medical response," COGAT said in the statement. "We continuously facilitate medical and humanitarian responses for the civilian population in Gaza." However, Ghebreyesus said the delivery was far from sufficient to meet the needs inside Gaza. "These medical supplies are only a drop in the ocean," he said in the X post. "Aid at scale is essential to save lives. WHO calls for the immediate, unimpeded, and sustained delivery of health aid into Gaza through all possible routes." For some, even these rare deliveries come too late. The group Doctors Without Borders evacuated most of its staff from Nasser Hospital two weeks ago, citing safety concerns. "I don't want to call it a collapsed system anymore. There is no health system in Gaza," Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, the group's deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, told ABC News in an interview. "The hospitals that remain are overwhelmed with mass casualties, many now coming from the food distribution points. We're treating patients with severe burns and complicated injuries, and we don't have the supplies, the fuel or the infrastructure to handle it," he said. Some patients are also suffering because the medical care available in the Gaza Strip does not meet the level of care they need. The Gaza Ministry of Health said 513 patients have died due to restrictions on travel for medical care, and 338 cancer patients have died while waiting to leave for treatment abroad. An IDF spokesperson did not immediately comment on the current travel restrictions in Gaza. Despite these challenges, the doctors and staff at Nasser Hospital continue their work. Electricity shortages are also exacerbating the crisis. Just 49 hospital generators are still running -- and even they are operating with limited fuel, according to the health ministry. "We are holding on by a thread," Brauner said. "This is not a sustainable situation. If Nasser goes down, the entire southern region will be left without a hospital. And that will be the final collapse."
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza as Trump says ceasefire possible "next week"
What is the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation? Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 60 people from Friday into Saturday morning, officials with the Hamas-run health ministry said. Among those killed were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought, the Associated Press reported. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital, according to health officials. A strike midday Saturday killed 11 people on a street in eastern Gaza City, and their bodies were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital. Palestinians look at the sand covering their tents and vehicles after the Israeli army targeted the tents of displaced people in the northern Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images The strikes come as President Trump on Friday said there could be a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas within the next week. "I think it's close," Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "We think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire." Israel and Hamas have not publicly commented on the status of any potential agreement. The Trump administration has pushed for a pause in fighting since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January. However, a deal has proven elusive so far. Talks have been on again, off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the Strip's dire humanitarian crisis. Late last month, Mr. Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 60-day ceasefire. Under that proposal, Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 dead hostages who were taken to Gaza during Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel, according to a copy obtained by CBS News. Israel would release 125 "life sentence" prisoners, 1,111 Palestinian detainees and 180 deceased Palestinians as part of the deal. Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Abdel Kareem Hana / AP Israel supported that proposal, but Hamas said it responded with "some notes and amendments." Witkoff called the response from Hamas "totally unacceptable" in a May 31 post on X. An official with knowledge of the situation told the AP that Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to still be alive. They were part of some 250 hostages taken when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war. The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. There is hope among hostage families that Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will only end the war once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected. Palestinians try to meet their daily water needs by filling jerry cans from water tankers brought into the area in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys. Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
