Muhammad was among five Palestinians — including two children — who died from hunger in the past 24 hours [Monday-Tuesday], raising Gaza’s famine death toll to 227, including 103 children. Hospitals have blamed the surge in starvation deaths on severe malnutrition since Israel sealed all Gaza crossings in March and further restricted aid.
FAMINE DEEPENS AMID BLOCKADE
The Health Ministry accused Israel of blocking more than 430 essential food items while permitting only limited shipments under international pressure. Aid agencies warn the deliveries are far below the level needed to avert widespread catastrophe.
In the same 24-hour period, Israeli attacks killed at least 89 Palestinians and injured 513, the Health Ministry said, noting that many remain trapped under rubble. Since October, the conflict has claimed at least 61,599 lives and wounded 154,088.
WAVES OF AIRSTRIKES DEVASTATE FAMILIES
On Monday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 48 Palestinians, including 11 children, Anadolu reported. In Khan Younis, seven family members were killed when their home was struck, while two others were shot while seeking aid.
In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital received the body of a child and four injured civilians from an airstrike. In Gaza City, three members of a single family died when a tent sheltering displaced people was hit.
In the Zeitoun neighbourhood of southeastern Gaza City, nine Palestinians — eight children — were killed before dawn in bombardment that witnesses said flattened several homes. Israeli artillery and airstrikes also struck the city’s southern and eastern districts.
In Deir al-Balah, seven Palestinians were killed — five at a civilian gathering and two in a car attack — while three more died when Israeli forces struck a home south of Gaza City. In the northwest, two Palestinians, including a child, were shot dead waiting for aid near the Zikim crossing, and eight more were killed by army fire near al-Sudaniya.
TARGETED JOURNALIST KILLINGS SPUR ICC COMPLAINT
A Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Khalidi, died of injuries sustained in an overnight strike that also killed five other journalists in Gaza City. The same day, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) announced plans to file a joint complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the killing of four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers in an Israeli strike on Sunday.
The HRF investigation alleges a direct chain of command from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to senior military leaders, including air force and intelligence chiefs, in ordering the killings. PCHR provided documentation of other Al Jazeera reporters killed following public smear campaigns.
The joint submission accuses the named individuals of war crimes and genocide, calls for arrest warrants, and urges the ICC to include all journalist killings in Gaza within its Palestine investigation.
“The evidence is there. The legal foundation is unshakeable. The jurisdiction is established beyond question. What remains is for the International Criminal Court to move past statements of ‘grave concern’ and take the decisive step that justice demands: act,” HRF said.
Canada condemned the killings but did not name Israel. “Journalists are civilians — targeting them is unacceptable,” the foreign ministry said.
REGIONAL TENSIONS AND WEST BANK DISPLACEMENT
Elsewhere, the Israeli army reported intercepting a drone launched from Yemen without sounding sirens, citing protocol.
Israeli media noted that Netanyahu has been ordered to testify three times a week in his corruption trial starting in November.
In the occupied West Bank, 30 Palestinian families fled northwest of Ramallah Monday evening following repeated settler attacks and Israeli army raids.
The Al-Baydar Organisation said the Arab al-Jahalin community in Ain Ayoub, near Deir Ammar, faced arson, livestock poisoning, and intimidation, describing it as “systematic forced displacement” aimed at expanding illegal settlements, with Israeli forces providing cover for the settlers.
[Photo: Young Palestinian girl manages to get a small amount of water from an aid truck distributing water to Palestinians in Khan Yunis, Gaza, where residents carry the supplies in plastic jerrycans amid a worsening water crisis, on August 13, 2025. Israeli attacks have severely damaged the city’s infrastructure, leaving much of the population without access to clean drinking water due to destroyed wells and storage facilities. Photojournalist: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]
