By Elham Asaad Buaras
London, (The Muslim News): At least 80 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in one of the deadliest single-day escalations in recent weeks, as Israel’s war on the besieged enclave shows no sign of abating. Among the victims were 25 people who died near a food distribution site operated by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The violence came on the same day the International Criminal Court (ICC) dismissed Israel’s request to annul arrest warrants issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The conflict, now nearing two years, has so far killed at least 58,573 people and injured over 139,607.
The scale of devastation continues to mount, with alarm over the impact on children. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council that more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured since the war began. “A whole classroom of children killed every day for nearly two years,” she said. Russell also warned of a sharp rise in acute malnutrition, with nearly 6,000 children affected in June alone—a 180 percent increase since February.
Among Wednesday’s casualties were 21 people killed in Khan Younis, where 15 suffocated after Israeli forces fired tear gas near a US-run aid distribution point. The Gaza Health Ministry said it was the first time fatalities had been recorded from suffocation and stampedes at food aid sites. UN Undersecretary-General Tom Fletcher described the situation as increasingly dire, warning that civilians are being shot while queuing for food, as supplies dwindle rapidly.
In the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Israeli airstrikes killed eight Palestinians, including three children, in tents housing displaced families. Elsewhere in the city, two members of a family were killed when their home in the Sabra neighbourhood was bombed. Further south, a strike on the Abu al-Arif and al-Mazra’a areas of Deir al-Balah claimed seven lives and injured 17 others, many of them children.
In the central Strip, three people were killed in an air raid on the al-Bureij refugee camp, while another was killed in nearby Block 1, where seven others were injured. In the Nuseirat refugee camp, Israeli bombardment struck both a residential apartment and a coffee shop, killing three people.
Northern Gaza also saw multiple casualties. Two were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City, and another two — including a young girl — died when a missile hit a civilian gathering on Abu Hasira Street. A home in Jabalia was shelled, killing four civilians and injuring 12. Additional deaths were reported in the Zarka area of the Tuffah neighbourhood and the western part of Gaza City, where a child was among those killed in a residential strike. Two civilians also succumbed to earlier injuries sustained in the As-Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza.
In al-Bureij camp’s Block 3, seven Palestinians were killed in a strike on a civilian gathering. Four others died near a US-managed aid distribution centre along the Netzarim corridor. Separate attacks in Deir al-Balah killed seven more civilians, including four members of a single family near al-Mazra’a School and three people on al-Hakar Street.
ICC rejects Israel request to cancel warrants for Netanyahu & Gallant
Despite mounting international pressure for a ceasefire, Israel has continued its offensive, launched in October 2023. The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
On Wednesday, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I rejected Israel’s request to cancel the warrants and suspend the investigation, reaffirming its jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Palestinian territories. Judges dismissed Israel’s claim that the court lacks legal authority in the matter, and noted that the suspension provision under Article 19(7) of the Rome Statute applies only when a state formally challenges admissibility — which Israel has not done.
The chamber further stated that no additional submissions from Israel or Palestine were required at this time, having already received sufficient information. In February 2021, the ICC had ruled that Palestine is a State Party to the Rome Statute, giving the court jurisdiction over Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem — territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
The Office of the Prosecutor formally opened its investigation into the situation in Palestine on 3 March 2021. Israel challenged the court’s jurisdiction in September 2024, but the objection was dismissed. In April 2025, the ICC Appeals Chamber referred the matter back to the Pre-Trial Chamber for a substantive ruling, which has now upheld the court’s authority to proceed.
[Photo: A young Palestinian in a shock seeing body of his close relative killed by Israeli airstrike on the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in eastern Gaza on July 16, 2025. The Israeli attack resulted in multiple casualties, with the deceased brought to the hospital for identification and funeral preparations. Photojournalist: Dawoud Abo Alkas/AA]
