GAZA: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 22 people on Saturday, warning that intensifying strikes on a Gaza City neighbourhood were placing its remaining residents in mortal danger. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in the Zeitun neighbourhood were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment. He said that about 50,000 people are estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life". Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swaths of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency, the Israeli military and other sources.
In recent days, Gaza City residents have said that of more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including in Zeitun, while earlier this week Palestinian group Hamas denounced "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions. To Bassal, Israel was carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in Zeitun. Israeli officials have dismissed similar accusations before, and the military insists it abides by international law.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to seize Gaza City, one of the most densely populated parts of the territory, which has been devastated by more than 22 months of war. On Friday, the Israeli military said its troops were operating in Zeitun. Ghassan Kashko, 40, who shelters with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, said: "We don't know the taste of sleep." He said air strikes and tank shelling were causing "explosions... that don't stop".
The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition. UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in. According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and in the south.
The war was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, based on official figures. Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Meanwhile, a young Palestinian woman who was flown from Gaza to an Italian hospital in a severely emaciated state for treatment has died, the hospital said on Saturday. The 20-year-old, identified by Italian media reports as Marah Abu Zuhri, arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight overnight Wednesday-Thursday. The University Hospital of Pisa said she had a "very complex clinical picture" and serious wasting, which is when a person has significant weight and muscle loss.
On Friday, after undergoing tests and starting treatment, she died after a sudden respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest, the hospital said. The woman was flown to Italy with her mother on one of three Italian air force flights that arrived this week in Rome, Milan and Pisa, carrying a total of 31 patients and their companions.
All the patients suffered from serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations, the Italian foreign ministry said at the time. So far, more than 180 children and young people from Gaza have been brought to Italy since the war began. The head of the Tuscany region, Eugenio Giani, offered his condolences to the woman's family. The hospital did not elaborate on what caused her condition, but Italian news agencies reported that she was suffering from severe malnutrition. Humanitarian groups, UN agencies and the Palestinian group Hamas have warned of the risk of widespread famine in war-battered Gaza. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
