By Nadine Osman
London (The Muslim News): More than 54,607 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Wednesday, describing the conflict as “genocidal in nature.” A further 97 bodies were recovered in the past 24 hours, while 440 people were injured, bringing the total number of wounded to 125,341.
The ministry cautioned that the actual death toll is likely significantly higher, as “many victims remain trapped under the rubble and in the streets, unreachable by rescue teams.”
However, at UN Security Council, US justified its veto of a draft Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian aid in Gaza, by claiming the text lacked provisions demanding the release of hostages held by Hamas and failed to explicitly condemn the group’s 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel or call for its disarmament and withdrawal from Gaza.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador, Amar Bendjama — who tabled the resolution — criticised the US stance, stating that a ceasefire was essential to prevent further civilian bloodshed.
Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments continued across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with at least 44 more Palestinians killed — including women and children — and dozens more injured.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, 18 people were killed when Israeli forces struck a tent sheltering displaced civilians inside a school, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Fourteen bodies were transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex, while 12 people sustained injuries.
In northern Gaza, shelling killed seven civilians, while six others — including a child — died in strikes on Jabalia and Khan Younis. One person was killed and ten, mostly women, were wounded in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli shelling also struck homes in Gaza City and Khan Younis, killing four people. In Deir al-Balah, a woman died when her tent was hit. Elsewhere, two civilians were killed in Jabalia, and three children were found dead in Beit Lahia following an airstrike. Two more bodies were recovered in the Joret al-Lout area of Khan Younis.
Despite the mounting death toll, Israeli forces continue to target densely populated residential areas. Homes in Qizan al-Najjar in southern Khan Younis and in northeastern Gaza City came under fire, though casualty reports from these areas have yet to be confirmed.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated to catastrophic levels. The United Nations confirmed that all hospitals in northern Gaza are now non-functional due to ongoing military operations and repeated blockades on aid deliveries.
“On Monday, the last remaining staff and patients were evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital. There are now no functioning hospitals left in northern Gaza,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
He added that over 100,000 people have fled from North Gaza and the Gaza Governorates in the past three weeks as medical services collapse under the strain of siege and bombardment.
[Photo: Rihan Sharab, a Palestinian mother, tries to keep the joy of Eid alive with her handcrafted toys by distributing them to children – seen above – in the Mewasi camp while Israeli attacks continue in Khan Yunis, Gaza on June 4, 2025. Photojournalist: Hani Alshaer/AA]
In Westminster, Foreign Office Minister, Hamish Falconer, on Wednesday, condemned Israel’s “inhumane” restrictions on humanitarian aid. Speaking to MPs, he said the British government was “appalled by repeated reports of mass casualty incidents involving Palestinians killed while attempting to access aid.”
“Desperate civilians who have endured 20 months of war must not face death or injury simply for trying to feed themselves and their families,” Falconer said, urging “an immediate and independent investigation” into such incidents.
However, many MPs demanded action from the UK government, not just words.
Labour MP, Paula Barker, said “we have been here countless times before. Last week, Israel approved 22 further settlements in the west bank. Israeli Defence Minister Katz claimed it was “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state”.
“What more evidence do we need to call this exactly what it is: a deliberate policy of annexation and genocide? Will the Government now take the long overdue steps that we have all been calling for for years—namely, the recognition of Palestine, sanctions on extremist Israeli Government Ministers, suspension of all arms sales and suspension of all trade? If we want to see a Palestinian state, we must do something now to prevent its erasure. The history books will not be kind to this Government unless we use every form of leverage at our disposal, and our grandchildren will ask why we effectively stood by while a people were eradicated by bombs, bullets, starvation and, no doubt, the further ethnic cleansing that is still to come. This should shame us all.”
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s relief chief, voiced similar concern: “The world is witnessing — day after day — horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza as they attempt to secure food.” He added that the suffering stems from “deliberate choices” that have “systematically denied 2 million people access to food, clean water and healthcare.”
Tensions rose further at the international level on Wednesday after the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The draft resolution received 14 votes in favour, with only the US opposing and no abstentions.
The US justified its veto by claiming the text lacked provisions demanding the release of hostages held by Hamas and failed to explicitly condemn the group’s 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel or call for its disarmament and withdrawal from Gaza.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador, Amar Bendjama — who tabled the resolution — criticised the US stance, stating that a ceasefire was essential to prevent further civilian bloodshed.
Meanwhile, within Israel, authorities demolished all 15 homes in the unrecognised Bedouin village of Arab al-Mask in the Negev desert, displacing approximately 100 residents. The demolitions, ordered by the Be’er Sheva District Court, also included tents and livestock pens in nearby Wadi Fa’i, WAFA reported.
Arab al-Mask is one of 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev that remain unrecognised by the Israeli state. Residents — many of whom were originally displaced during the 1948 Nakba — face frequent demolitions under planning laws that render all construction in these areas illegal.
In the occupied West Bank, at least 30 Palestinians were injured on Wednesday evening after armed Israeli settlers launched a violent raid on the village of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah. Witnesses said settlers set fire to a home, a horse stable and a sheep farm, causing extensive property damage.
Footage shared on social media showed large fires engulfing parts of the village. Kamal Awawdeh, a Fatah official in the area, said many of the injured sustained head wounds from beatings and stone-throwing. At least ten vehicles and several livestock pens were also destroyed.
[Photo: Rihan Sharab, a Palestinian mother, tries to keep the joy of Eid alive with her handcrafted toys by distributing them to children in the Mewasi camp while Israeli attacks continue in Khan Yunis, Gaza on June 4, 2025. Photojournalist: Hani Alshaer/AA]
