Israel’s attacks on Gaza kill dozens as hunger-related deaths rise

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip describe desperate struggle for food as Israeli bombardment continues.
At least 24 people, including 13 aid seekers, have so far been killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks across Gaza.If you’re just joining us
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

Israeli attacks have killed at least 24 people, including 13 aid seekers, across Gaza today.
Atef Abu Khater, a 17-year-old Palestinian, has died of malnutrition, bringing the total number of starvation-related deaths in Gaza to 163.
Just 73 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, well under the 600 needed to meet residents’ basic needs, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Most of yesterday’s trucks were looted, the office said.
Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza have yet again called for an agreement that will result in their return from Gaza.‘Threatened either by bombs, starvation or engineered Israeli genocidal chaos’
Ahmed al-Najjar, a journalist and resident of Gaza who is sheltering in Khan Younis, says Palestinians in the besieged territory are faced with “a tragedy and torment” amid Israeli bombardment, forced starvation and a complete feeling of insecurity.

“With the cats away, the mice will play – except that it’s not just a mouse, but an engineered Israeli genocidal chaos,” he told Al Jazeera, stressing that safety is “nowhere to be found” in Gaza.

“We are not just referring to the fact of constant fear of the Israeli bombs being dropped on our head but the fact that there is a total security and power vacuum that leaves us here unsure and uncertain of our own safety,” al-Najjar said.

He described that even walking in the street and going to buy a bag of flour or some other basic necessity makes people feeling uncertain that they will be able to return home safely.

“There is not any sort of presence for police or security forces in the streets; we’ve been saying the continuous and systematic targeting of the police forces inside these ‘safe zones’ here.”‘We have no food, flour, basic sanitation. What are we supposed to do?’
A security vacuum in Gaza has given rise to gangs and lawlessness across the Strip.

Gaza’s police services have been decimated by the war, and international peacekeeping forces have been barred from the besieged enclave.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum spoke to Amalat Wadi, a mother of seven, in Deir el-Balah. She said her family, displaced by the war, “wait desperately for the aid trucks, but with no law or protection, they are looted by gangs” before reaching their destinations.

“We have no food, no flour, not even basic sanitation. What are we supposed to do?” she said.

In recent days, with growing international pressure, Israel has allowed only a trickle of aid to enter. The UN says it’s a welcome step, but nowhere near enough.

Antoine Renard, the World Food Programme Palestine director, told our colleague that they have the capacity to provide aid, with supplies in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the occupied West Bank, but Israel and the security situation do not allow for a free flow of aid into Gaza.

“The war is still ongoing,” he said, adding that many of the WFP convoys are shot at as they leave checkpoints.Just 73 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, most of them looted
Gaza’s Government Media office says only 73 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, far below the 500 to 600 the UN estimates are needed to meet residents’ daily needs.

In addition, most of the trucks were looted before their contents could be distributed, it added, blaming Israel for “systematically and deliberately” enforcing the “security chaos”.

“We strongly condemn the continued crime of starvation, the closure of the crossings, and the prevention of humanitarian aid from entering,” the office said in a statement.Palestinians grasping for survival, not safetyIt is still very, very difficult for the majority of people to get food supplies. Hunger and desperation are leading to most of the violence and chaos we witness every day.

When aid trucks do manage to get into Gaza, they are instructed to stop at certain points, but they are often swarmed by hungry crowds.

It’s easy to point at Palestinians and call them violent when we see these crowds. But that’s desperation, that’s hunger – all the byproducts of months of devastation that pushed them to the point where survival is the ultimate goal.

It’s not safety any more, it’s survival. And that’s why we’re seeing this.Families of captives call for end to ‘madness’
Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza have yet again called for an agreement that will result in their return from Gaza.

Israeli media outlet Maariv is reporting that the families said: The danger to our children’s lives is great and we call on Israel and Washington to consider our situation.

“The risk of the disappearance of the bodies of the prisoners killed in Gaza is increasing. It is time to reach a comprehensive agreement and stop the war. No kidnapped person must remain in Gaza, the madness must stop, and our sons must be returned.”Two more killed, 26 wounded near aid site in central Gaza
Sources at al-Awda Hospital have said that two Palestinians have been killed and 26 were wounded by Israeli army fire while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.‘A daily battle for survival’
We’ve spoken to Ahmed al-Najjar, a resident and journalist living in Gaza, about the experience of Palestinians trying to get desperately needed food while being attacked from all sides.

Here’s what he said:

“It’s a very familiar [situation] now for anyone living across the Gaza Strip.

“It wouldn’t be fair to describe our getting of food right now as actually getting food – it’s a daily battle for survival, it’s a daily battle to find something to eat, especially [after] months now of continued blockade.

“We are no longer in a situation where it’s easy for us to find something as simple as vegetables, something as simple as cheese or dairy products.

“Our own bodies are being slowly now consumed by this starvation that has been going on for months, now in a pace that we never imagined possible, in a pace that we now resort to … finding anything within the nearby markets, the nearby vendors to just fill in the hollow in our stomachs, resorting to things that we never imagined possible before.”