By Harun Nasrullah
London, (The Muslim News): At least 50 Palestinians, including nine aid seekers, were killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday, while two more died of starvation in the Gaza Strip, medics reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed that Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 62,192 Palestinians since October 2023.
In the last 24 hours alone, 70 bodies were brought to hospitals and 356 people were injured, raising the total number of casualties to 157,114. “Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry added.
Two deaths from famine and malnutrition were also recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing hunger-related deaths since October 2023 to 271, including 112 children.
Escalating attacks on Gaza City
Israel has intensified assaults on Gaza City, aiming to seize the area and forcibly displace nearly one million residents while carrying out systematic demolitions of Palestinian homes.
Medical sources reported multiple deadly strikes across Gaza:
• Five family members were killed in a drone strike in Khan Younis.
• Five civilians died near an aid distribution centre on Salah al-Din Street.
• Additional strikes in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah, Sabra, al-Shanti, Sheikh Radwan, and Jabalia neighbourhoods killed dozens, including children, while targeting residential areas and civilians waiting for aid.
• Israeli bombardments in Rafah and central Gaza also claimed lives and left many injured, as homes and aid distribution points were hit.
The official news agency Wafa reported ongoing demolitions in Gaza City’s Zeitoun and Sabra districts.
Civilian deaths dominate
Research based on Israeli military data shows that five out of six Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians. A joint investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call found that only 17% of those killed were identified as fighters, leaving 83% as civilians—a ratio unusually high for modern warfare.
Therese Pettersson of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) said, “That proportion of civilians among those killed would be unusually high, particularly as it has been going on for such a long time.” Similar casualty ratios have only been seen in Srebrenica, the Rwandan genocide, and the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022.
[Photo: Palestinian residents of the area flee with their belongings they could carry to areas they believed to be safe following indiscriminate bombings by the Israeli army on northern Gaza, on August 22, 2025. Photojournalist: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/AA]
