Israel ramping up attacks over past 24 hours
There has a clear increase in the Israeli military attacks in the past 24 hours, particularly in the southern parts of Gaza. At least 17 Palestinians were killed in the latest Israeli barrage of attacks on the Rafah district that destroyed two residential houses.
Meanwhile, we have been hearing more loud explosions in the city of Khan Younis where the Israeli military is still sieging a residential neighbourhood. The situation is also very dire and critical in the central areas, specifically at the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Israeli bombardment has wounded civilians.
WHO chief shares ‘grim findings’ after agency visits north Gaza hospitals
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said on X that the World Health Organization (WHO) has visited al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza over the weekend. He said the WHO team found “severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed”.
“The situation at Al-Awda Hospital is particularly appalling, as one of the buildings is destroyed,” he said.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital is the only paediatrics hospital in the north of Gaza, and is overwhelmed with patients. The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children. The lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas like the intensive care unit and the neonatal unit,” Tedros added.
He said the WHO managed to deliver 9,500 litres (2,509 gallons) of fuel to each hospital, and some essential medical supplies. “We appeal to Israel to ensure humanitarian aid can be delivered safely, and regularly. Civilians, especially children, and health staff need scaled-up help immediately. But the key medicine all these patients need is peace. Ceasefire,” Tedros added.
Grim findings during @WHO visits to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern #Gaza: severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed.
The visits over the weekend were the first… pic.twitter.com/CxaCuau7iR
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 4, 2024
Number of children dying of malnutrition in Gaza rises to 16
Medical sources have confirmed that the number of Palestinian children who died as a result of malnutrition and inadequate medical care had increased to 16, following the death of a child at Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.
On Sunday, the out-of-service Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip said 15 children had died as a result of malnutrition and dehydration, and that there were six other children in intensive care.
Most of Gaza’s hospitals have been either shut down or crippled in the wake of more than five months of Israeli attacks.
‘Child deaths we feared’ in Gaza are here, says UNICEF
UNICEF has warned that many more children in Gaza will die of dehydration and malnutrition unless there is direct intervention to provide assistance.
“Now, the child deaths we feared are here and are likely to rapidly increase unless the war ends and obstacles to humanitarian relief are immediately resolved,” said Adele Khodr, UNICEF regional director for MENA.
How Israeli attacks pushed more than 1.5 million people into Rafah
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began, almost all Palestinians in the besieged enclave have been forced to leave their homes to find safety, the majority of them fleeing to the southern city of Rafah. But as Israel bombards Rafah, once designated by Israel as a “safe zone”, Palestinians are finding that there is no safety in Gaza as long as the war continues.
Al Jazeera’s interactive team has mapped out what displacing more than two million Palestinians in Gaza looks like from October 7 to January 14.
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2024/displacement-israel-war-on-gaza-no-safe-place/
Gaza Health Ministry: We detected about one million cases of infectious diseases
The Health Ministry says it has detected about one million cases of infectious diseases, without having the necessary medical capabilities to treat them, as it described the medical situation in the Gaza Strip as “extremely catastrophic”.
In a statement released on Monday, the ministry stressed that the Israeli occupation deliberately caused an unspeakable humanitarian and health catastrophe, which contributed to the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases. The ministry also confirmed that the residents of the northern Gaza Strip are struggling with death as a result of famine that has exceeded global levels due to the scarcity of water and food.
The ministry said that Israel has killed 364 health workers and arrested 269, including hospital directors, during the 150 days of the aggression on the Gaza Strip. It added that Israel has destroyed 155 health institutions, put 32 hospitals and 53 health centres out of service, and targeted 126 ambulances.
‘Grave has no resistance’: Israel bombs cemetery in northern Gaza’s Jabalia camp
Israel has bombed an improvised mass grave in the Block Two area of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, leaving bodies scattered around the cemetery, according to Al Jazeera’s team on the ground.
“These are the parts of some of the martyrs that I personally placed in the shroud,” said one man, who buried a grandmother, aunts and an uncle in the targeted cemetery. “The mass grave has no resistance and has no missile. Here there are only martyrs from this area and other different areas. They were targeted by an F16 aircraft,” he added.
New operations conducted in Khan Younis, dozens arrested: Israeli army
The Israeli forces have carried out fresh operations in the Hamad Town residential complex in the southern town of Khan Younis in Gaza in the past few days, according to an army statement. The statement on X said the military forces targeted, what they said, the Hamas infrastructure in the neighbourhood, adding that many Hamas fighters fled to the area from battles in other areas of Khan Younis.
Raids by Israeli commandos targeting Hamas “weapon depots, hideouts and other infrastructure” were carried out after “large concentrated wave of air strikes in the area”, it added. The military said that about 80 suspects were captured and questioned in the area, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters.
Intense clashes between the Israeli army and fighters have been ongoing in Khan Younis for the last several weeks, according to reports from both sides.
Six Palestinians killed in second Israeli attack on Rafah
At least six Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air raid on a residential building in Rafah, bringing the total toll from overnight attacks on the southern city to 13. The latest attack targeted the Madi family home in the east of Rafah. Several others who were wounded were taken to the nearby al-Najjar Hospital.
Earlier, we reported that at least seven others were killed in a separate Israeli strike on a house in the Khirbet al-Adas neighbourhood in Rafah. Rescuers in the area have been searching through the rubble by hand to find survivors and recover bodies.
Israeli bombing of Rafah kills dozens, including long-awaited twins
A woman who spent 11 years trying to conceive is mourning her twins, born just four months ago, who were killed in Rafah along with her husband. A series of Israeli attacks in recent days on Gaza’s southernmost city, once declared a safe zone, have killed 25 Palestinians.
Death toll in Israel’s war on Gaza rises to 30,534
More than 100 people have been killed in the past 24 hours in Israeli bombardment, taking the death toll to at least 30,534, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Israel’s military offensive since October 7 has wounded 71,920 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people, the ministry said.
