Israel kills at least 18 Palestinians in Gaza over last 24 hours

Israeli attacks have killed at least 18 people in Gaza over the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry says.
Humanitarian organisations say incidents of aid loting in Gaza are rising as stocks of food, medicine run low amid Israel’s now two-month blockade.Eight people killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis home
As we reported earlier, Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks in or around southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, causing numerous casualties.

One attack targeted a home in the city, killing at least eight people, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.Fires near Jerusalem largely ‘under control’: Israeli official
Fires that swept through areas near Jerusalem have largely been tamed, though dangerous hotspots remain, according to Israeli officials. Major roads that were closed due to the blaze near the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway have now reopened, the AFP news agency reports.

“The fire is under control,” said Shlomi Harush, a senior official in Israel’s firefighting service. He noted that crews remain active at several “hotspots” and warned that strong winds could cause the flames to build back up.

As we reported earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by local media as saying 18 people were arrested on suspicion of starting the fires, without providing further details.

While wildfires are not unheard of in Israel at this time of year, they are not considered a regular occurrence.Aid lootings in Gaza ‘a grave signal of how serious things are’
At least five looting incidents took place yesterday across Gaza, with desperate people searching for food and aid at kitchens, stores and aid warehouses, reports Reuters, quoting residents and aid workers.

In one case, thousands of people crowded into an UNRWA site in Gaza City, taking medicine, said Louise Wateridge, a senior official for the agency. “While devastating, [the looting] is not surprising in the face of total systemic collapse,” she said.

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) in Gaza, also described the looting as “a grave signal of how serious things have become in the Gaza Strip”, pointing to “the spread of hunger, the loss of hope, and desperation among residents as well as the absence of the authority of the law”.

Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Gaza Government Media Office, said the looting incidents were “isolated individual practices that do not reflect the values and ethics of our Palestinian people”.

He said that despite being targeted, Gaza authorities were “following up on these incidents and addressing them in a way that ensures the preservation of order and human dignity”.