Israel intensifies attacks in North Gaza, kills 27 across Strip
- Israeli attacks have killed 27 Palestinians and wounded 149 in the latest 24-hour reporting period, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
- One-month-old Ali al-Batran dies from hypothermia in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital a day after his twin brother died from the same cause, the Wafa news agency reports.
Red Cross says healthcare in North Gaza ‘obliterated’
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says hospitals there have been rendered “completely inoperable”.
“Repeated hostilities in and around hospitals have obliterated the health care system in northern Gaza, putting civilians at an unacceptably grave risk of going without lifesaving care,” the ICRC said in a statement.
It called for respect and protection of medical facilities in line with international humanitarian law.
“This protection is a legal obligation and a moral imperative to preserve human life,” it added, saying that hospitals were a lifeline for those sick or wounded during the conflict.
Last week, Israel launched a major raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, leaving northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of service.
“Kamal Adwan [is] now completely inoperable,” the ICRC statement said.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said its forces killed about 20 Palestinian fighters and apprehended “240 terrorists” in the Kamal Adwan raid, calling it one of its “largest operations” conducted in the territory.
Those reports, presented without evidence, have not been confirmed, and concerns have grown about the whereabouts and safety of the hospital’s director and other detained medical staff.
Five aid trucks lost in Gaza due to armed looting, says WFP
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says that yesterday, it attempted to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners through the Gate 96 checkpoint – which Israel claims was opened for humanitarian purposes in March – but was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of two community members.
It said five trucks were lost due to the armed looting.
As we reported earlier, Gaza’s Government Media Office addressed the incident in a statement, accusing the WFP of, “violating the correct protocol followed and implemented in securing aid trucks,” but did not provide details or elaborate on what the WFP allegedly did.
For over two weeks, “nearly all movement of aid through crossings in south and central Gaza has resulted in violence, looting, and tragic deaths” due to attacks and the absence of law and order along convoy routes inside Gaza, the WFP said.
In the statement the WFP called on “all parties to the conflict” uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, specifically enabling the protection of the civilian population, and safe passage of the humanitarian assistance they require for survival.
“Above all, a ceasefire is needed,” it said.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators protest in Sweden, UK, South Korea and Canada
Palestinian supporters have organised a silent march with empty prams in the city of Malmo, Sweden.
A video on Instagram verified by Al Jazeera shows a group of activists carrying children’s shrouds on Sunday and pushing empty baby strollers through the city’s streets.
In the same city, supporters of Palestine distributed flyers inside a shopping centre, calling on people to boycott Israeli products.
