Israel pounds Gaza ahead of UN truce vote
Published: 03:02 PM,Feb 20,2024 | EDITED : 07:02 PM,Feb 20,2024
TOPSHOT - Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 19, 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
GAZA: Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Tuesday as world powers grappled with how to broker a ceasefire ahead of a UN Security Council vote that was expected to be blocked by a US veto.
A total of 103 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours of Israeli strikes and ground combat in the besieged territory, its health ministry said.
The United Nations has sounded the alarm over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning that food shortages could lead to an 'explosion' of preventable child deaths.
More than four months of relentless fighting have flattened much of the coastal territory, pushed 2.2 million people to the brink of famine and displaced three-quarters of the population, according to UN estimates.
'How many of us have to die... to stop these crimes?' said Ahmad Moghrabi, a Palestinian doctor in southern Gaza's main city, Khan Yunis. 'Where is the humanity?'
Global powers trying to navigate a way out of the spiralling crisis have so far come up short, with a push for a UN ceasefire resolution facing an expected US veto.
After months of struggling for a united response, all EU members except Hungary called Monday for an 'immediate humanitarian pause'.
They also urged Israel not to invade Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, many in makeshift tents.
The city, the last untouched by Israeli ground troops, is also the main entry point for desperately needed relief supplies via neighbouring Egypt.
Israel's strikes on the city are hampering humanitarian operations, while the food supply is disrupted by regular border closures, says the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The scarcity of food and safe water has triggered a steep rise in malnutrition, the UN children's fund warned Monday.
One in six children in northern Gaza are now acutely malnourished, UNICEF said, a situation poised to 'compound the already unbearable level of child deaths'.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the territory's health ministry.
Witnesses said Gaza City's southern Zeitoun neighbourhood had come under heavy bombardment.
Israel has rebuffed repeated calls to spare Rafah, including from its closest ally the United States.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh warned of 'thousands' of dead if Israeli troops enter the city. 'Israel must be prevented from this aggression,' he said.
International mediators have been scrambling to avert the assault. — AFP
A total of 103 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours of Israeli strikes and ground combat in the besieged territory, its health ministry said.
The United Nations has sounded the alarm over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning that food shortages could lead to an 'explosion' of preventable child deaths.
More than four months of relentless fighting have flattened much of the coastal territory, pushed 2.2 million people to the brink of famine and displaced three-quarters of the population, according to UN estimates.
'How many of us have to die... to stop these crimes?' said Ahmad Moghrabi, a Palestinian doctor in southern Gaza's main city, Khan Yunis. 'Where is the humanity?'
Global powers trying to navigate a way out of the spiralling crisis have so far come up short, with a push for a UN ceasefire resolution facing an expected US veto.
After months of struggling for a united response, all EU members except Hungary called Monday for an 'immediate humanitarian pause'.
They also urged Israel not to invade Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, many in makeshift tents.
The city, the last untouched by Israeli ground troops, is also the main entry point for desperately needed relief supplies via neighbouring Egypt.
Israel's strikes on the city are hampering humanitarian operations, while the food supply is disrupted by regular border closures, says the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The scarcity of food and safe water has triggered a steep rise in malnutrition, the UN children's fund warned Monday.
One in six children in northern Gaza are now acutely malnourished, UNICEF said, a situation poised to 'compound the already unbearable level of child deaths'.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the territory's health ministry.
Witnesses said Gaza City's southern Zeitoun neighbourhood had come under heavy bombardment.
Israel has rebuffed repeated calls to spare Rafah, including from its closest ally the United States.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh warned of 'thousands' of dead if Israeli troops enter the city. 'Israel must be prevented from this aggression,' he said.
International mediators have been scrambling to avert the assault. — AFP