London, (Agencies): There is “no safe place to go in the Gaza Strip”, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Sunday, as Israeli airstrikes kill 300, injure 550 people in 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 18,000, as well as 49,500 wounded people.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization’s executive board on Sunday adopted a resolution on tackling the worsening health situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.

After the UN Security Council declined Friday to demand a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group, the 34 countries on the WHO’s executive board adopted by consensus a resolution calling for the “immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief” into Gaza.

The resolution, proposed by Afghanistan, Morocco, Qatar and Yemen, called for the granting of exit permits for patients.

It seeks the supply and replenishment of medicine and medical equipment to the civilian population and for all persons deprived of their liberty to be given access to medical treatment.

It also expressed “grave concern” for the humanitarian situation and the “widespread destruction”, and urged protection for all civilians.

Despite agreeing to the resolution, some countries expressed reservations about the resolution.

The United States’ representative said Washington agreed not to oppose the consensus on the text but had “significant reservations”, saying it “regrets the lack of balance in the resolution”.

Canada said it considered the text a “compromise resolution” that could have gone further with additional language acknowledging role of Hamas in the conflict, such as its taking of hostages and “use of human shields”.

Australia said it took issue with the fact that the resolution did not make specific reference to the October 7 attacks, which were “the catalyst for the current devastating situation”.

Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman says about 18,000 Palestinians have been killed and 49,500 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7.

Ashraf al-Qudra told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview that the death toll included 297 people killed and more than 550 wounded in the past 24 hours.

Heavy fighting raged overnight and into Sunday focussing mainly on Khan Younis, as Israel pressed ahead with its attacks after the US blocked the latest international efforts to halt the fighting and rushed more weapons to its close ally.

Israel’s relentless bombardment continues along with ground operations that have forced hundreds of thousands of people from the northern and central areas to the increasingly overcrowded south.

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi, on Sunday accused Israel of trying to “empty Gaza of Palestinians” in a campaign that amounts to “genocide”.

“What we are seeing in Gaza is not just simply the killing of innocent people and the destruction of their livelihoods (by Israel) but a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people,” Safadi said at Dohua Forum in Qatar.

“We have not seen the world yet come to the place we should come to … an unequivocal demand for ending this war; a war that is within the legal definition of genocide.”

In a pre-recorded message, the spokesperson for Hamas’s Qassam Brigades says Israeli captives will not be released by military force, reprted Al Jazeera.

“We tell the Israelis that Netanyahu, Gallant, and others in the war cabinet cannot bring back their captives without negotiations. The latest killing of a captive they tried to take back by force proves that.”

Abu Obaida was referring to an Israeli man held captive, whom Israeli special forces in the Gaza Strip tried to rescue. He said the group repelled the attempt, inflicting several military casualties, and the captive also died in the assault.

He also said in 10 days fighters from Beit Hanoon to Khan Younis “managed to destroy more than 180 military APCs, tanks and bulldozers partially or totally. Our fighters carried out operations that included attacking foot soldiers from close range and dozens of sniper attacks along with anti-personnel weaponry.

“These led to a large number of deaths and injuries among the enemy ranks,” he said.

UNRWA’s commissioner general writes, in Gaza, “humanitarian aid has been made conditional. Humanitarian assistance is withheld or delivered according to political and military agendas to which the United Nations is not privy”.

Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the UN agency providing relief to Palestinian refugees, wrote in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, that “food, water and fuel are being systematically used as weapons of war in Gaza, as is disinformation”.

“Attacking and trying to discredit humanitarian organisations such as [UNRWA] is yet another means of waging war and compromising the humanitarian response, further weakening the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he said.

Lazzarini added that “humanitarian aid is a strategic dimension of foreign policy and diplomatic competition – an instrument of power and war.  In Gaza, humanitarian assistance is being manipulated to serve political and military objectives, another breach among many in this war”.

But the United States has lent vital support to the indiscriminate attack once again in recent days, by vetoing United Nations Security Council efforts to end the fighting that enjoyed widespread international support, and by pushing through an emergency sale of over $100 million worth of tank ammunition to Israel.

The continuing Israeli assault on Gaza comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regrets the Security Council’s failure to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Addressing Qatar’s Doha Forum, Guterres said the council was “paralysed by geostrategic divisions” that were undermining solutions to Israel’s war on Gaza.

The body’s “authority and credibility were severely undermined” by its delayed response to the conflict, he said two days after the US veto prevented a resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

“I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared,” he told the forum.

“Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it,” he added.

“I can promise, I will not give up.”

Over 18,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 7,729 children, 5,153 women. 48,780 Palestinians have been injured in the indiscriminate bombing by Israel.

More than 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured in Gaza since the conflict began on Oct. 7, with more than 2,000 officially recognized by the Ministry of Defense as disabled, an Israeli newspaper revealed on Saturday, adding that more than 58% of those injured suffered serious harm to their hands and feet, necessitating amputations.

“More than 5,000 wounded soldiers arrived in hospitals in Israel,” the daily Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

“More than 2,000 were officially recognized by the Ministry of Defense as disabled,” the daily added.

“We have never experienced anything similar to this. More than 58% of the wounded we receive have serious injuries to their hands and feet, including amputations,” Limor Luria, deputy director general and head of Israel’s Ministry of Defense’s Rehabilitation Department, told the newspaper.

“About 12% of injuries are internal consisting of damage to the spleen, kidneys, and rupture of internal organs,” Luria said.

“About 7% suffer from psychological distress, a number we know will rise sharply,” the official said.

The Israeli army said at least 420 soldiers have been killed since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

Israel resumed its military offensive against the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group, Hamas.

[Photo: Injured Palestinian children being treated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment after the Israeli attacks in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on 10 12 23. Photojournalist: Ashraf Amra/ AA]