Gaza City, (OCHA, Wafa): Between the afternoons of 19 and 20 February, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 103 Palestinians were killed, and 142 Palestinians were injured. Between 7 October 2023 and noon on 20 February 2024, at least 29,195 Palestinians were killed, including 12,000 children and 69,170 Palestinians were injured by Israeli indiscriminate bombing in Gaza according to MoH. 8,500 Palestinians are missing.

Intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Widespread ground operations and heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups also continue to be reported, especially in Gaza city, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.

Dozens of civilians were killed and others were injured this evening in Israeli strikes targeting several civilian homes in the Zeitoun, southeast of Gaza City.

WAFA correspondent reported that the Israeli bombing targeted houses belonging to families of Naim, Khalifa, Shenoura and Yasin, which resulted in the killing and injury of scores of civilians.

According to the correspondent, the majority of casualties are still trapped under the rubble of the houses and cannot be reached by civil defense vehicles and ambulances due to the intensity of fire by the occupation’s warplanes, tanks, and drones.

The occupation army continued its artillery bombardment against the neighborhoods of Zeitoun, Sabra, Tel al-Hawa and the outskirts of Shuja’iyya, in the city of Gaza, which resulted in the injury of several civilians.

WAFA correspondent reported that a large number of civilians were killed and others were injured in missile and artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli drones on Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

He said that large Israeli military vehicles entered Al-Zaytoun neighborhood from Tal Al-Hawa area west of the city, and Mahmour Salah Al-Din to the south, and were stationed near the intersection of Street 8 and Salah Al-Din Street amid bombardment by Israeli warplanes and the firing of artillery shells that hit a number of citizens’ homes, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens.

He added that Israeli drones opened fire on Palestinians moving between the alleys and side streets in the neighborhood, pointing out that the Israeli incursion into Al-Zaytoun neighborhood resulted in the forced displacement of thousands of Palestinains towards the western areas of Gaza City, specifically to Al-Shifa Hospital and the vicinity of the hospital in Al-Rimal neighborhood.

Israeli warplanes, artillery and tanks launched raids and fired shells at a number of residential neighborhoods in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, killing six civilians and wounding 15 others.

The Israeli forces continues its operations in Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals, west of the city, amid tragic conditions for the wounded, patients, and medical staff in Nasser Hospital.

In Rafah, the Israeli forces fired a number of shells in the center and west of the city, causing injuries among the displaced.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes bombed several homes in the Nuseirat, Bureij, and Maghazi camps, and in Deir al-Balah, killing four citizens and wounding about 10 others. They were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the center of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army opened fire and fired shells at citizens waiting for humanitarian aid west of Gaza City.

Three Palestinians were killed tonight in an Israeli bombing targeting the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses said that the occupation forces bombed a house in the camp, killing three Palestinians, who were later transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

In the same context, occupation artillery bombed Al-Shaaf area east of Al-Shuja’iya, while occupation gunboats bombed the coast of Gaza City.

The Global Nutrition Cluster is reporting a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip, as food and safe water become increasingly scarce and disease proliferates.

The situation is especially serious in northern Gaza where 1 in 6 children under the age of 2 (15.6 per cent) who were screened at shelters and health centres in January were found to be acutely malnourished.

Of these, almost 3 per cent suffered from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.

This rate of 15.6 per cent of wasting among children under the age of two indicates a decline in a population’s nutritional status that is unprecedented globally in three months, according to the report.

Prior to 7 October, just 0.8 per cent of children under 5 in Gaza were acutely malnourished. In Rafah in southern Gaza, where aid has been more available than in the north, 5 per cent of children under the age of two are acutely malnourished, evidence that access to humanitarian aid can help prevent the worst outcomes.

According to Israeli government 1,139 Israelis were killed by Hamas on 7 October in southern Israel and 134 Israelis and foreign nationals are still detained by Hamas in Gaza.

[Photo: An injured Palestinian baby receives treatment at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital following an Israeli attack in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on 20 2 24. Photojournalist: Doaa Albaz/ AA]