By Nadine Osman
London, (The Muslim News): At least 58,765 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s relentless military campaign on the Gaza Strip, the territory’s Health Ministry confirmed on Saturday. The latest toll includes 98 bodies recovered over the past 48 hours, while 511 others were wounded, bringing the total number of injured to 140,485 since the war began on October 7, 2023. The ministry warned that many more victims remain trapped beneath rubble or lie unattended in the streets as continued bombardment prevents rescue teams from reaching them.
Saturday saw some of the deadliest violence in recent weeks. According to medical sources, at least 116 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the enclave, including 38 people struck near food aid distribution points in the southern city of Rafah. Among the casualties were 36 Palestinians, shot dead by Israeli forces as they waited for humanitarian assistance.
Witnesses and local health officials say Israeli troops opened fire without provocation on a large crowd gathered near a US-operated aid centre west of Rafah. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces fired “a volley of live ammunition,” resulting in mass casualties, with 32 additional deaths recorded in a separate incident at the same location.
This growing toll of deaths at aid points has raised alarm among humanitarian groups and UN agencies. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed aid organisation operating with Israeli coordination since late May, has come under increasing scrutiny. The group bypassed established UN and NGO structures, claiming to offer a faster response to Gaza’s spiralling crisis. However, UN figures indicate that nearly 900 Palestinians have died while attempting to collect food or assistance at sites associated with the GHF. Palestinian and international critics say the foundation’s presence has coincided with a sharp rise in fatalities among desperate civilians queueing for relief.
Hunger continues to exact a grim toll. The director of Al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that two more people, including a weeks-old baby, have died of starvation. The United Nations has warned that thousands of Palestinians are now facing “catastrophic hunger”, with food systems shattered and humanitarian corridors under frequent attack.
Elsewhere across Gaza, Israeli airstrikes and artillery continued to pound civilian areas. In eastern Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood, five people were killed when a strike hit a civilian gathering. Three others died in Khan Younis after a tent sheltering displaced families was bombed. In the central Nuseirat refugee camp, a drone strike on a residential apartment block killed 12 Palestinians and wounded several others.
Residential neighbourhoods throughout Gaza City also came under attack. Five Palestinians, including three women and a child, were killed in separate airstrikes targeting homes. Four more people lost their lives when an Israeli missile struck an animal-drawn cart in the southwest of the city. Israeli fire claimed additional lives in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, where three were killed during shelling of civilian gatherings. Near the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, an airstrike wounded several people when a residential apartment was hit.
In the vicinity of the Netzarim Corridor, a central area controlled by Israeli forces, four Palestinians were shot dead while waiting at another US aid distribution site. The killings have further intensified criticism of the militarisation of humanitarian zones, with rights groups warning that aid lines have effectively become kill zones.
Israeli forces also struck targets in northern Gaza, including a cluster of tents near a UN-run school in eastern Gaza City, killing seven people and injuring 17. In the town of Jabalia, two more civilians were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a gathering of people. Meanwhile, two additional deaths were reported in Khan Younis following airstrikes on tents sheltering displaced families, and five more were killed in separate Israeli attacks in both Gaza City and Khan Younis.
Despite mounting international calls for an immediate ceasefire, Israel continues its offensive unabated. The near-total destruction of the enclave has displaced almost the entire population, triggered a collapse of health and sanitation infrastructure, and fuelled widespread outbreaks of disease and starvation. Most of those killed so far are women and children, Gaza health officials say.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing both of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel also faces a separate genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following a petition by South Africa that accuses Tel Aviv of violating the Genocide Convention.
[Photo: Close relatives of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces who bombed tents sheltering displaced civilians in Khan Younis, Gaza on July 20. their bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital for funeral procedures. Photojournalist: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]
