By Elham Asaad Buaras
London, (The Muslim News): At least 60,249 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its indiscriminate onslaught on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. In a statement issued Thursday, the ministry confirmed that 111 bodies had been recovered in the previous 24 hours, while 820 people were injured, bringing the total number of injuries to 147,089.
The ministry warned that the true toll may be considerably higher. “Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it said.
Humanitarian conditions remain critical. The ministry reported that 91 Palestinians were killed and more than 666 were injured in a single day while attempting to access aid. Since May 27, at least 1,330 Palestinians have been killed and 8,818 wounded while seeking food and other basic supplies.
A source at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis confirmed the death of a young man from Rafah who succumbed to starvation. Medical professionals earlier stated that the total number of hunger-related deaths since the start of the onslaught had reached 154, including 89 children.
Israeli strikes continue to inflict heavy civilian casualties across the Gaza Strip. On Thursday, three Palestinians, including a woman, were killed and dozens more injured as aerial assaults targeted multiple residential areas.
In Jabalia al-Balad, Israeli warplanes bombed a home, killing at least one woman and wounding several civilians, including children, according to a WAFA correspondent. A separate drone strike in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis, killed a man. Medical sources at Al-Shifa Medical Complex also reported the arrival of one fatality and multiple injuries following a strike on the al-Karama neighbourhood in northwestern Gaza City.
Additional Israeli attacks claimed more lives on Thursday. WAFA reported that ten civilians, most of them women and children, were killed in continued shelling across the enclave. In central Deir al-Balah, a father, mother, and their two children were killed when an Israeli drone bombed their tent. Their bodies were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Elsewhere in Jabalia, ambulance crews recovered three bodies and four injured individuals from the Al-Salfiti family’s apartment, located in the Abu Al-Hussein building. They were transported to Al-Shifa Hospital. In Khan Younis, two children were killed when Israeli drones bombed tents sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area. Their remains were taken to Nasser Hospital.
Children remain disproportionately affected by the conflict. The Health Ministry reported that 18,592 children have been killed since the start of hostilities, including many infants. Among the victims were newborns who died within hours or days of birth due to airstrikes. The ministry recorded fatalities among infants as young as one month old.
In central Gaza, another Palestinian man, 26-year-old Karim Khaled al-Jamal, died from complications related to severe malnutrition. Jamal, who suffered from muscular atrophy and partial paralysis, was displaced from Rafah to the Nuseirat refugee camp. His condition steadily worsened due to a lack of specialised medical care and nutritional access. He died at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. “He had survived on blended fruit for 26 years,” his uncle, Mohammad al-Jamal, told Anadolu.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked an automotive repair shop in the village of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus. WAFA news agency, citing a local official, reported that the settlers approached from the eastern outskirts of the town and clashed with local residents.
Meanwhile, Israeli police and soldiers stormed the town of Silwad and the village of Khirbet Abu Falah in the Ramallah area, following additional settler-led violence earlier in the day.
US imposes sanctions on officials from Palestinian Authority
A senior Palestinian official denounced the US’s decision to impose sanctions on officials from the Palestinian Authority. Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, condemned the move as “blatant support for Israel’s occupation” and its indiscriminate onslaught on Gaza. “The US partners in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza,” he said.
“These sanctions are meant to support the occupation and its war of extermination and to erase the Palestinian cause after the New York conference and the wave of countries announcing plans to recognise Palestine, which has risen to the top of the international agenda,” He added that the sanctions are “nothing but further support for the occupation.”
The US State Department announced the visa bans on Thursday, citing the 1989 PLO Commitments Compliance Act and the 2002 Middle East Peace Commitments Act. It justified the sanctions by alleging noncompliance by the Palestinian leadership with prior commitments, including its recourse to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice and financial support to prisoners. The Department claimed the sanctions were necessary to protect US national security and preserve the prospects for peace.
Israeli rights organisations accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza
On Monday, Israeli rights organisations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel jointly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. They cited the systematic destruction of Palestinian society and the deliberate collapse of the territory’s healthcare system as central to the claim.
Israel is also under investigation by international courts. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Separately, the International Court of Justice is currently examining a genocide case filed against Israel in relation to its actions in Gaza.
Handala aid Flotilla activists released
Meanwhile, Israel deported the final two foreign activists who were part of the Handala aid flotilla, which attempted to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza. Legal rights group Adalah said that Christian Smalls of the United States and Hatem Aouini of Tunisia were expelled via Jordan after being held in Givon Prison, where they launched a hunger strike to protest their detention. “With their departure, all activists aboard the Handala boat have now been deported, and none remain in Israeli custody,” Adalah stated.
Earlier, five other international volunteers—Braedon Peluso (US), Frank Romano (US-France), Santiago González Vallejo (Spain), Sergio Toribio Sanchez (Spain), and Vigdis Bjorvand (Norway) — were deported via Ben Gurion Airport. The Handala, which carried baby formula, food, and medicine, was intercepted near Gaza’s coast in international waters, on July 26 while attempting to break Israel’s months-long blockade. A total of 21 unarmed civilians, including medics and lawmakers, were on board.
Adalah has accused Israeli authorities of unlawfully detaining the activists without legal justification and subjecting them to degrading conditions.
Slovenia bans trade and weapons with Israel
In Europe, Slovenia became the first country to ban the trade and transit of weapons to and from Israel. The policy, confirmed during a cabinet session on Thursday, was introduced by Prime Minister Robert Golob. Under the ban, no military equipment may be imported from Israel, exported to Israel, or transported through Slovenian territory.
The Slovenian government cited the European Union’s failure to adopt collective action as the reason for acting unilaterally. “Due to internal disagreements and disunity, the European Union is currently unable to fulfil this task,” a government statement read. Condemning the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the statement continued: “The result of this is shameful: people in Gaza are dying because humanitarian aid is systematically denied to them. They are dying under the rubble, without access to drinking water, food, and basic healthcare.”
The statement concluded: “This is a complete denial of humanitarian access and a conscious prevention of basic conditions for survival. In such circumstances, it is the duty of every responsible state to act, even if this means taking a step ahead of others.” The Slovenian government pledged to introduce additional national measures targeting Israel in the coming weeks, citing serious violations of international humanitarian law.
[Photo: Palestinian Taafish family lives in a ruined house with their 20-day-old newborn as Israeli attacks continue in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City, Gaza on July 31, 2025. The baby is suffering from digestive problems, while mother Seham Taafish is facing serious difficulties due to the lack of basic food supplies and infant formula. Photojournalist: Mahmoud Abu Hamda/AA]
