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Israel has launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory, amid urgent warnings of widening starvation in the coastal strip.
The latest assault comes a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed on Sunday in what has become an almost daily slaughter.
The UN food agency, the World Food Programme, said the majority of those killed on Sunday had gathered near the border fence with Israel, in the hope of getting flour from a UN aid convoy, when they were fired on by Israeli tanks and snipers.
On Monday the UK and 24 other countries issued a sharply critical letter condemning the Israeli military’s killing of hundreds of Palestinians seeking food in recent weeks and calling for an immediate end to the conflict.
“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” it said.
Witnesses described massive airstrikes overnight in Deir al-Balah – the last remaining area of Gaza that has not suffered significant war damage and is packed with Palestinians displaced from elsewhere in Gaza.
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Israel launched its renewed assault despite reports in the Hebrew media that Israeli officials believed Hamas was close to agreeing to a ceasefire.
The latest Israeli assault followed forced evacuation orders for 50,000-80,000 people in Deir al-Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip, leaving almost 87% of the territory under such orders.
“With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8%, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12% of the strip, where essential services have collapsed,” the UN said in a statement released by its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
With the growing threat of widespread starvation, Ocha emphasised the importance of Deir al-Balah for what remained of the struggling international aid effort. Warehouses, health clinics and a key desalination plant serving southern Gaza are located there. “Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences,” the agency added.
Amid increasing concern over the potential impact of the latest assaults, Ocha said the agency’s local head in Gaza had decided to remain in Deir al-Balah.
“Just spoken to Jonathan Whittall,” Tom Fletcher, the UN’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs wrote on X late on Sunday night. “He’s in Deir el Balah, Gaza, with Israeli airstrikes intensifying … They are best of UN. And all of us.”
The Israeli military said it had not entered the districts of Deir al-Balah subject to the evacuation order and that it was continuing “to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area”.
Deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza was underlined by claims from doctors that more than a dozen Palestinians had died from hunger in the past 24 hours.
“Nineteen people, including children, have died of hunger,” Khalil al-Daqran, a spokesperson for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah told the BBC. “Hospitals can no longer provide food for patients or staff, many of whom are physically unable to continue working due to extreme hunger.
“Hospitals cannot provide a single bottle of milk to children suffering from hunger, because all baby formula has run out from the market.”
According to the World Food Programme, the killing of dozens of Palestinians who had gathered to get flour came after a convoy of 25 trucks carrying food assistance crossed into Gaza.
“Shortly after passing the final checkpoint … the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies,” the agency said. “As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.
“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. “Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.”
Israel’s military acknowledged the shooting but said it had fired “warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops”. It said initial findings suggested the reported casualty figures were inflated, and it “certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks”.
The World Food Programme added: “Gaza’s hunger crisis has reached new levels of desperation. People are dying from lack of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition is surging, with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment. Nearly one person in three is not eating for days.”
The latest Israeli attacks in Gaza took place as a security official for Yemen’s Houthi group said Israel had struck Hodeidah port on Monday, destroying a dock that had been rebuilt after it was damaged in earlier attacks.
“The bombing destroyed the port’s dock, which had been rebuilt following previous strikes,” the official told Agence France-Presse, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
