Israeli killings of elderly Palestinians in Gaza
As we reported earlier, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,206 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, with the majority of the victims being children, women and the elderly.
According to a report by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor earlier this month, the number of elderly Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks stands at more than 2,120.
The figure represents about 4 percent of the war’s victims and 2 percent of the besieged and bombarded territory’s elderly population.
“Most of these elderly victims were crushed under the debris of their homes or shelter centres after Israeli aircraft bombed them, or during forced evacuations or visits to markets for basic needs,” the watchdog said.
It added that “dozens were shockingly killed through direct field executions and liquidation operations”.
‘The worst Nakba’ of her life, says displaced 80-year-old woman
Badriya al-Kilani, an 80-year-old Palestinian woman from northern Gaza, has been displaced and forced to seek refuge in the central Gaza Strip.
“I left my home barefoot, with nothing, and walked among the corpses,” she told Al Jazeera.
The heavy bombardment forced her and her family to flee, but she said her frail body was unable to keep up.
“You go ahead and leave me here to die, save yourselves,” she told her family at one point.
Currently residing in a makeshift camp in Deir el-Balah, al-Kilani – also known as Umm Wissam – recalls being displaced to the same area during the 1948 Nakba, when she was just four.
The Nakba, or “catastrophe”, refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society in 1948.
Al-Kilani said she is also a survivor of the 1967 Naksa episode – when Israel seized the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
Now, she describes the most recent Israeli bombardment as “the worst Nakba” of her life.
“I can’t move, and during any bombardment, I can’t escape,” she said with tears streaming down her face.
Badriya al-Kilani, 80
High tides force further displacement for Gaza families
As much as displaced families across the Gaza Strip suffered throughout the summer due to the heat and the spread of diseases, right now there is a growing concern over the change in weather.
There is an early drop in temperature, and those who are close to the shore and have set up their tents there because they had no other place to evacuate to, are now at risk of losing them because of the high tide.
Earlier today, particularly in the al-Mawasi zone in Khan Younis, the high tide destroyed tens of tents set up at the shore and forced people into further displacement.
There is no other place to go to and going back to their home is not an option.
‘Five out of six bakeries in northern Gaza shut’
Kamel Ajjour, owner of a bakery in northern Gaza, says five out of six bakeries in the area have shut down due to Israel’s blockade on the entry of fuel and raw materials needed to produce bread.
“Our bakery is the only one still functioning in the area and is likely to close within a week if Israel continues to block the entry of fuel and essential supplies,” he told Anadolu Agency.
Ajjour also said that no fuel has been delivered to bakeries in northern Gaza for more than 10 days.
“The supply of critical ingredients such as flour, sugar, and yeast has been significantly reduced for nearly a month,” he was quoted as saying, warning of a severe crisis if his bakery also halted operations in northern Gaza.
