** The death toll from recent Israeli attacks on Gaza has climbed to 31, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Among the victims are seven people killed while awaiting humanitarian aid near the Netzarim corridor.
Gaza health authorities reported that at least 16 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli attack on Gaza City in the northern Strip during the early hours of today, as cited by The Guardian. Sources indicate Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tanks opened fire on tents sheltering displaced people in the western al-Shati refugee camp. Israel has not yet commented on the incident.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates “1,000 starving people have been killed in Gaza while seeking food aid” since the end of May. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, quoted by international media, warned the Strip is a “hell on earth,” with doctors fainting from hunger and exhaustion.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on X that its staff residence in Deir al Balah, Gaza, was attacked three times today, with the main warehouse also targeted. He detailed that Israeli forces entered the compound, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot to Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and relatives were handcuffed, stripped, questioned at gunpoint, and searched. Two WHO staff and two relatives were arrested; three were later released, leaving one staff member detained. Thirty-two WHO personnel and family members were eventually evacuated to a WHO office. “WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff member and protection for all its personnel,” Tedros stated.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, condemned the situation as “morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.” “Humanitarian aid is not just necessary; it is a matter of life or death. To refuse it is not a delay, but a condemnation,” he declared, describing the sight of men enduring hours in the sun hoping for food as “humiliation.” “Today,” he added, “we raise our voice in an appeal to the leaders of this region and the world: There can be no future based on imprisonment, the displacement of Palestinians, or revenge.”