London, (The Muslim News): More than 50 Palestinians were killed on Sunday in a fresh wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, including dozens shot while waiting for humanitarian aid, as the territory’s death toll climbed past 60,800.
Among the dead were at least 27 people gunned down at multiple aid distribution points, according to medical sources. The killings sparked renewed condemnation as Israeli strikes hit bomb shelters and civilian areas.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 60,839 people have now been killed since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7, 2023, with another 149,588 injured. The ministry and international experts warn that the ongoing assault is driving Gaza to the brink of famine.
The scale of Sunday’s carnage became clearer as hospitals received 119 bodies over 24 hours and treated 866 wounded. The death toll jumped after 290 previously unverified bodies were added to the registry. “Many victims remain trapped under rubble and on roads,” the ministry said, “as rescuers cannot reach them.”
Attacks span Gaza from South to North
In the south, seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire while seeking food aid. Another nine died near distribution centres in northern Rafah. An airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis’s Al-Amal neighbourhood, killing two more and wounding others.
The violence reached humanitarian workers directly. A Palestinian Red Crescent Society worker was killed — three others wounded — when an Israeli strike hit the organisation’s headquarters in Khan Younis, igniting fires at the site.
Moving north through central Gaza, six people were gunned down while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor.
At the territory’s northern edge, five more Palestinians were shot dead in food queues.
Meanwhile, medics and civil defence teams recovered 22 bodies from Gaza City’s Shejaiya, Al-Tuffah, and Zeitoun neighbourhoods following heavy bombardment. Three more died from artillery shelling in Shejaiya alone. Local sources reported that Israeli shelling continued unabated throughout Khan Younis all day.
Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli custody
The violence extended into the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian prisoners’ affairs groups reported another death in custody. Ahmad Saeed Tazazaa, 20, from Jenin, died on Sunday at Megiddo Prison.
Held under Israel’s administrative detention policy, which allows Palestinians to be imprisoned without charge or trial for renewable six-month periods, Tazazaa had been detained since May 6. While the cause of death wasn’t specified, his passing brings confirmed Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody since October 2023 to 76. This figure excludes those whose identities remain unverified amid ongoing reports of enforced disappearances.
Hamas offers hostage aid in exchange for humanitarian access
Amid escalating casualties, Hamas’s armed wing made an unusual offer. The al-Qassam Brigades said it would coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver food and medicine to Israeli hostages held in Gaza, but only if Israel allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid into all areas of the territory.
“The al-Qassam Brigades is ready to deal positively with any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to [Israeli] enemy captives,” spokesperson Abu Obeida announced on Telegram. Such deliveries, he added, would require Israel to “fully and continuously” open humanitarian corridors while halting aerial activity during aid drops.
Abu Obeida insisted the group “does not deliberately starve the captives,” stating they receive the same rations available to Palestinian civilians and fighters. “They will not be granted special privileges while our people endure starvation and blockade.”
This statement followed a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ICRC’s regional director, in which Netanyahu reportedly appealed for humanitarian assistance to the hostages.
Israeli minister’s Al-Aqsa incursion sparks regional outrage
Tensions rose further when Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, led a large group of settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The move, timed to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, drew swift condemnation from across the region.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) denounced what it called a calculated Israeli provocation, warning that such actions formed part of a broader strategy to alter the historic and legal status quo at Islam’s third-holiest site. The Jeddah-based body urged urgent international action to halt Israel’s “serious violations” of Islamic and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem.
Saudi Arabia amplified the condemnation, accusing Israeli officials of “violating international laws and norms” while “fuelling regional conflict.” The kingdom reiterated calls for international intervention against what it described as inflammatory and unlawful actions.
Jordan’s response was equally sharp. Its Foreign Ministry called Ben-Gvir’s incursion a “flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” reaffirming that the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound remains exclusively a Muslim place of worship. Only the Jordanian-run Jerusalem Waqf, Jordan stressed, holds legal authority over the site.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry situated the mosque storming within a wider pattern of Israeli policy. “This is not an isolated incident,” it declared. “These repeated storming of Al-Aqsa by senior Israeli officials confirm that the current Israeli government is actively pursuing a colonial, racist policy aimed at erasing the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and liquidating the Palestinian cause.”
Despite growing international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pressed forward with its campaign, devastating civilian infrastructure and displacing most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. Women and children comprise the majority of those killed.
The Palestinian ministry called on the UN Security Council and other international bodies to fulfil their legal and moral responsibilities in safeguarding the Palestinian people and heritage. Without action, it warned, unchecked Israeli aggression could irreparably destroy prospects for peace.
[Photo: Relatives of the deceased mourn after 2 children were killed in an Israeli airstrike hitting their tent in al-Mawasi and other civilians were shot dead in Rafah while waiting for humanitarian aid, during the funeral at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 04, 2025. Photojournalist: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]
