2 hours ago
2
Israeli strikes killed at least 32 people in Gaza overnight, according to health officials in the territory, including 25 people in Gaza City.
The Israeli military continues to press ahead with an attack on the strip’s largest city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are trapped and starving, despite international pressure for a ceasefire.
Strikes on Saturday morning destroyed a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighbourhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to al-Ahly hospital where the bodies were brought.
Bombing in central and northern Gaza killed people in their homes in the early hours, including nine members of the same family – a husband, wife and their children – in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, staff at al-Awda hospital said.
The Israeli army also killed four people when an airstrike hit a home in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital.
Civil defence crews have been unable to reach dozens of people trapped under the rubble.
On Friday the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the UN general assembly in New York that his country “must finish the job” in Gaza.
Dozens of delegates staged a walk-out as he took to the podium, while protesters against Israel’s war gathered outside.
International pressure has been increasing on Israel after a UN commission of inquiry found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and a growing number of countries announced their decision to recognise Palestinian statehood, including the UK, France, Canada, and Australia.
Nearly two weeks into Israel’s offensive, the health sector in Gaza City is collapsing, with two clinics destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others barely functioning. Medicine, equipment, food and fuel are in short supply, while many doctors and nurses have been forced to flee.
On Friday, Médecins Sans Frontières said it had been forced to suspend activities in Gaza City due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” said Jacob Granger, the charity’s emergency coordinator in Gaza. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most at-risk people – infants in neonatal care, people with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses – unable to move and in grave danger.”
