Nadine Osman
London (The Muslim News): At least 49 Palestinians were killed on Saturday as Israeli forces intensified strikes across the Gaza Strip, while six more people, including a child, died of starvation, according to medical officials.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the total number of famine-related deaths since October 2023 has now reached 382, including 135 children. The ministry also reported that 68 bodies were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, along with 362 injured, raising the cumulative toll of the war to 64,368 killed and 162,367 wounded.
Among Saturday’s incidents, Israeli gunfire killed 10 Palestinians waiting for food aid in the Al-Sudaniya area of northern Gaza. In central Gaza, two more were shot dead near the Netzarim Corridor, while in the south, five were killed in western Khan Younis.
In Gaza City, a series of airstrikes and drone attacks hit multiple neighbourhoods. In Sheikh Radwan, eight people were killed in a strike on a house, while artillery and drone fire in the same area killed two children. On Al-Nafaq Street, a house was destroyed with several casualties reported, and in the nearby Shati refugee camp, six people were killed when their home was struck. Drone fire on Yarmouk Street killed two more civilians, while further strikes in the Zeitoun neighbourhood left at least three dead.
Israeli jets demolished the 15-storey Soussi Tower near UNRWA headquarters, displacing dozens of families. An evacuation order was issued minutes before the strike, and no deaths were reported. The attack came after a broader military directive for Gaza City residents to move south, which Palestinians and aid groups describe as part of a systematic campaign of forced displacement.
In central Gaza, two people were killed and 17 were wounded while waiting for aid in Wadi Gaza. A strike near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah killed a woman and her infant daughter.
In Khan Younis, an elderly man was shot dead in Al-Mawasi, an area previously declared a humanitarian zone, while a child was killed in a strike on a vehicle. Drone fire killed two people in the Amal neighbourhood and three more on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street.
Alongside the bombardments, the humanitarian crisis has sharply deepened. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 104 famine deaths, including 20 children, have been recorded since last month’s UN-backed declaration of famine—evidence, officials say, that continued Israeli restrictions on aid are directly driving starvation.
Israeli forces & settlers continue attacking Palestinians in West Bank
Violence also continued in the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces injured 26 Palestinians and detained 18 during raids. Three men were shot in Nilin, west of Ramallah, while 16 were arrested in Anata, northeast of Jerusalem. Two others were detained near Nablus. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 17 injuries in Tubas after Israeli forces used live fire, stun grenades, and tear gas.
Settler attacks were also reported. In Al-‘Arara, east of Jerusalem, armed settlers set fire to agricultural structures. In Jericho’s Shalal al-Auja, livestock were released inside Palestinian homes. Northwest of Hebron, a Palestinian family was beaten, including an elderly man and his grandchildren, with one son shot at while fleeing.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said Israeli forces and illegal settlers carried out 1,613 attacks in the West Bank in August, including 431 assaults by settlers. Since October 2023, at least 1,018 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
The violence comes despite a July ruling by the International Court of Justice declaring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
[Photo: Under the protection of Israeli forces, Jewish settlers raid the Old City in Hebron, West Bank on September 06, 2025. Photojournalist: Amer Shallodi/AA]
