At least 500 Palestinian children have been killed by sustained Israeli air attacks and bombardments in Gaza since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas last month, said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson of the Gaza Civil Defence, while a UN official described the war-torn territory as a “post-apocalyptic” killing zone.
Meanwhile, Israeli air raids in Gaza on Saturday killed at least six people, including a child, bringing the death toll in the last 24 hours to more than 20. More than 1,500 people have been killed since Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza on March 18, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In the latest Israeli attacks on Saturday, two people were reported killed, and two children were injured in Gaza’s Tuffah neighbourhood, while two others were killed in al-Atatra district of Beit Lahiya, in the northern part of Gaza.
Another Palestinian was killed in an Israeli drone attack in the Qizan an-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis.
Several casualties were also reported following Israeli air raids on the tent shelters of civilians in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, which Israel had designated a so-called “safe zone”.
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Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting outside Al-Ahli Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, reported that a newborn named Sham was severely injured after the child’s family was hit in an attack.
“She was in very critical condition where her arm was amputated and she died a couple of hours later, because her injury was very critical and doctors were unable to help her situation,” she said. The death brings to six the number of deaths early on Saturday.
Khoudary also reported that two forced evacuation orders were issued on Saturday in Shujayea and Khan Younis.
“Palestinians do not know where to go.”
“We are here in Al-Aqsa Hospital and we observe the ambulances that come every single day and most of those who are targeted, injured or killed, are women and children.
“Due to the lack of medical supplies, most of these Palestinian children and women are witnessing a very deteriorating situation,” she added.
On Friday, Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that 36 of the 224 documented Israeli strikes in Gaza, between March 18 and April 9, involved deaths that were only women and children.
In a statement, the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq said the findings by the UN further confirmed a pattern it previously identified.
“Such a calculated effort to exterminate women, boys, girls & even infants, has not been witnessed in any other modern conflict,” Al-Haq said in a post on social media.
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Upfront, UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Gaza as a “post-apocalyptic” killing zone.
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Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye on Friday, Lazzarini also reiterated that Israel has been preventing the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other vital humanitarian supplies into Gaza, contravening international law.
In a separate post on X on Saturday, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma warned that all basic supplies “are running out” in Gaza.
“It means babies, children are going to bed hungry.”
Israel has pledged to press on with its military offensive, with officials in recent days outlining plans to seize new swaths of territory in southern Gaza and issuing a series of forced evacuation orders.
UNRWA said about 400,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced across Gaza since the ceasefire ended on March 18. Israel forcibly displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 population since it launched war on October 7, 2023. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed and 115,981 wounded drawing condemnation from rights groups.