GAZA STRIP: PALESTINE – Fresh Israeli airstrikes in Gaza today, Wednesday has killed at least 32 Palestinians, and left dozens injured. 16 people were killed in Israeli shelling of a school-turned shelter in Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City.
Several people are still trapped under the rubble, the source said.
Wednesday’s strike came one day after at least 49 people were killed and 73 others injured in an Israeli strikes on 2 schools in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Eight people, including a child, were also killed in another strike targeting a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, a medical source said.
In the eastern part of the same city, a Palestinian and his wife lost their lives after Israeli forces shelled their home in Bani Suhaila town, the same source said.
The Israeli army killed three more Palestinians, including a child, in Munasira refugee camp in eastern Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
Three others were killed, and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the eastern Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
According to witnesses, the Israeli army carried out home demolitions in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central enclave.
The Israeli army has launched a brutal military onslaught on Gaza, killing more than 52,600 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
Gaza Strip Declared a Famine Zone
The Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa declared Gaza Strip a famine zone on Wednesday during a press conference on the deteriorating conditions in the strip.
He urged the international community to implement UN resolutions prohibiting the use of starvation as a weapon of war, adding that action was needed in accordance with the obligations under the international humanitarian law and to recognize the catastrophe and famine.
Israeli Plan to Annex Gaza Rebuked by Amnesty International
Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately abandon any plans to annex the Gaza Strip or forcibly transfer the Palestinian population.
“After imposing two months of full siege on Gaza, Israel’s declared intentions to expand its already devastating military offensive, further entrench its unlawful occupation of the Gaza Strip,” Erika Guevara Rosas, a senior official at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
The group warned that such moves would represent grave violations of international law.
On Sunday, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan to expand its war on Gaza and occupy more territory inside the Palestinian enclave, raising fears of a full occupation of the enclave.
“Any move by Israel to displace Palestinians to the south of the Gaza Strip and confine them into so-called ‘closed bubbles,’ or continue to impose inhumane conditions of life to push Palestinians out of Gaza, would amount to the war crime of unlawful transfer or deportation,” said Amnesty.
It added that if such actions are carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians, they would constitute crimes against humanity.
“These plans demonstrate Israel’s utter disregard for international law and its contempt for the rights of Palestinians,” said Rosas.
She added that any attempt to weaponize humanitarian aid, use it to coerce forced displacement, or create discriminatory aid zones would also violate international law and must be rejected.
Calling the Israeli plans “dangerous,” Rosas urged the international community to “unequivocally reject” such measures and pressure Israel to fulfill its legal obligations and ensure full humanitarian access to Gaza.
Nearly 2.4 million people in Gaza are completely dependent on humanitarian aid, according to World Bank data.
Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical and humanitarian aid, deepening an already humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
