The Israeli military escalated its attack on the last major population centre in Gaza City, forcing starving Palestinian refugees to flee once again.
At least seven people were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported, while thousands of families fled Zeitoun along with the neighbouring areas of Sabra, Remal and Tuffah.
“The Zeitoun neighbourhood is a very densely populated area, home to many families, including those who have been sheltering there,” Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary reported. “Residents were surprised when the artillery shelling and the intensive air raids started. Some people stayed. Others started moving. As the violence escalated, many were forced to evacuate – hungry, devastated and displaced yet again, leaving behind everything they had.”
Medics and witnesses said Israeli forces killed at least 17 aid seekers on Sunday, including nine awaiting UN aid trucks close to the Morag corridor.
Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor awaiting a convoy when Israeli snipers fired. He saw two people with gunshot wounds. “It’s either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation,” he said.
An Israeli strike in the Bureij camp in central Gaza, meanwhile, killed three people, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the distribution points that have become the primary source of aid since they opened in May, said there was no gunfire “at or near” its sites, located in areas controlled by the Israeli military.
The GHF was installed in Gaza by Israel and the US to distribute aid in place of reputable humanitarian and UN organisations.
At least two more children and five adults died of causes related to malnutrition on Sunday, the health ministry said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 61,900 people so far, turned the besieged Palestinian territory into a wasteland, displaced most of its 2.2 million people and left them starving, according to local health officials and international aid groups.
The UN has warned that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began in October 2023.
Israel has blocked most aid from entering Gaza since it enforced a total blockade in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas. Aid organisations say the partial resumption of deliveries is below what is needed.
One in five children in Gaza is malnourished, according to the UN, while tens of thousands rely on food from charity kitchens that can provide only one meal a day.
“I came at 6am to the charity kitchen to get food for my children, and if I don’t get any now, I have to come back in the evening for another chance,” Zeinab Nabahan, displaced from the Jabalia refugee camp, told Al Jazeera. “My children are starving on small amounts of lentils or rice. My children haven’t had bread or any breakfast.”
Earlier, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned against “manmade famine” in Gaza. “We’re very, very close to losing our collective humanity,” Juliette Touma, the communication director of the agency, posted on X.
The Israeli military chief is finalising a Gaza assault plan and is set to present it to the government, Haaretz reported. It includes preparation to capture Gaza City.
The military body that coordinates its aid to Gaza, Cogat, this weekend noted plans to forcibly remove people from combat zones to southern Gaza.
Designated “safe zones”, however, have also been bombed by Israeli forces during the war.
Palestinians insist they won’t leave, arguing that there is no safe place in Gaza. “There are no humanitarian zones at all,” Raghda Abu Dhaher said.
She has been displaced 10 times during the war, she said, and now sheltered in a school in western Gaza City.
Mohamed Ahmed also insisted he wouldn’t move south. “Here is bombing and there is bombing,” he said.
