Israeli Airstrikes Kill 76 in Gaza as Aid Blockade Fuels Starvation Crisis
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, Israeli attacks on Friday alone resulted in the deaths of at least 76 Palestinians, with that number expected to rise.
Since midnight local time, at least eight more fatalities were recorded. One of the deadliest strikes hit a residential building in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing four and injuring dozens, local media reported. In central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, a separate airstrike on a family home claimed two lives and left several others wounded.
Among the most devastating personal losses, Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, lost all nine of her children in the Khan Younis attack that leveled her family home and caused fires throughout the neighborhood.
Civil defense teams recovered the children's remains from the rubble—eight of them badly mutilated. Her husband was also seriously injured in the blast. The children, ranging in age from 2 to 16, were killed while their mother was on duty at the hospital.
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The strikes followed an earlier Israeli aggression on a hospital in northern Gaza, where tanks and drones caused widespread fires and structural damage, according to Palestinian health officials.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate at a staggering pace. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that nearly 600,000 people have been displaced again since the collapse of the last ceasefire, including over 161,000 within just one week (15–21 May).
Over 80% of Gaza’s territory is now either militarized, under evacuation orders, or considered high-risk, leaving civilians with virtually no safe zones.
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Gaza has been under a full Israeli blockade for over 11 weeks, which has sharply limited the entry of life-saving aid. UN agencies and humanitarian groups say that famine conditions are emerging across the enclave, where over 2.3 million residents face widespread food insecurity.
According to a statement released Saturday by the Gaza Media Office, the humanitarian disaster is the result of the Israeli regime’s deliberate “starvation engineering.”
The statement said that since the closure of all Gaza border crossings on March 2, at least 58 people have died directly due to malnutrition, while another 242—mostly elderly—have died from a lack of food and medicine.
The office said Saturday marked the 84th consecutive day of the total blockade. While vast quantities of humanitarian aid remain stuck at border crossings, unable to enter Gaza, supplies have started to spoil.
Aid groups estimate that since early March, at least 46,200 truckloads of aid and fuel should have entered Gaza to meet basic needs. In reality, fewer than 100 trucks have reportedly crossed in recent days—less than 1% of what is required.
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The Gaza Media Office warned: “This starkly exposes the occupation’s policy of ‘starvation engineering,’ whereby it deliberately controls the flow and distribution of food, deepening the catastrophe facing more than two million civilians in Gaza.”
Starting in October 2023, the Israeli genocidal campaign against Gaza has killed at least 53,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The regime broke a nearly two-month-long ceasefire on March 18, resuming its brutal bombing campaign while also enforcing a total blockade on Gaza, preventing any food, medical supplies, or goods from entering the besieged territory.
The occupying regime has been condemned for using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians.
Source: Agencies
