Civil Defense announces 29 killed in Israeli Strikes

The Gaza Strip's Civil Defense reported on Friday that 29 people were killed in new Israeli strikes, which has been under a complete blockade by Israel for two months.

In the early afternoon, Mohammed al-Moughayir, an official with this first aid organization, announced that 20 people died in Israeli bombings since dawn: six in Beit Lahia (north), nine in the al-Bureij refugee camp (center), three near Khan Younis (south), and two in a western neighborhood of Gaza City (north). The Civil Defense later reported nine additional deaths in two strikes: six in Gaza City, and three near Khan Younis.

The Israeli army resumed its bombings and offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce with Hamas in the war triggered by the unprecedented attack from the Palestinian Islamist movement on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

This attack resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 people abducted that day, 58 remain held in Gaza, including 34 deceased, according to the Israeli army. Hamas also holds the body of an Israeli soldier killed during a previous war in Gaza in 2014.

Since March 2, Israel has halted the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of diverting it. Israel claims that this total blockade is intended to pressure the Islamist movement to release all the hostages it holds, alive or dead.

Since then, the U.N. has unsuccessfully called on Israel to reopen the territory to humanitarian aid, which is vital for the population facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation and at risk of famine, according to UN officials.

Humanitarian operations in Gaza are "on the verge of total collapse," warned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday. The World Health Organization's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, described the situation in Gaza as an "abomination."

The Israeli military's retaliatory campaign for the October 7 attack has resulted in at least 52,418 deaths in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the U.N.