Israel bombs residential block in Gaza City killing at least 20, including 9 children; over 81 killed in Gaza today
Israel on Saturday bombed a heavily populated residential block in Gaza City's al-Tuffah neighbourhood killing at least 20 Palestinians, including nine children.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 81 Palestinains were killed on Saturday in various attacks across Gaza, including those near the aid distribution sites of the US-backed and Israeli military-operated Gaza Human Rights Foundation (GHF).
Rights groups and the UN have refused to cooperate with the GHF, slamming it as a "death trap" for Palestinians and accusing it of aiding Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza.
According to Gaza's health ministry, Israel has killed more than 549 Palestinians at aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations last month.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called the GHF an "abomination" that has put Palestinians' lives at risk, while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the "weaponisation of food" in the territory.
Meanwhile, Qatar on Saturday said that it and fellow mediators --the United States and Egypt-- were engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from the ceasefire with Iran and work towards a Gaza truce.
"If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again," said Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, Israel has so far killed at least 56,412 Palestinians in Gaza with more than half being women and children. Israel has also targeted and killed hundreds of journalists, health care workers and aid workers. Israel has also targeted hospitals, refugee camps, schools and residential complexes, causing mass casualties of civilians, mostly children.
However, Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday reported the death toll to be far higher at around 100,000, which is about 4% of Gaza's entire population.
The report said that in addition to the deaths from Israeli attacks, many Palestinians have lost their lives from the indirect effects of the genocidal war, such as hunger, cold and diseases amid Israel's blockade of humanitarian assistance and targeting of Gaza's health system.
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