By Nadine Osman
London (The Muslim News): The UN World Food Program (WFP) on Sunday called for a “sustained and daily” flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, warning that families remain on the brink of starvation amid mounting fears of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Letting aid in is the first step – we need a sustained, daily flow of trucks,” the UN agency said in a statement. “We also need the ability to move and distribute aid inside Gaza safely and without delay.”
Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis. Although Israeli authorities have recently promoted a narrative claiming they are allowing aid into the enclave, only around 100 trucks have entered—far less than one percent of what is required to meet basic needs.
“A few trucks with life-saving food were allowed into Gaza this week. This is just a drop in the ocean,” the WFP said. “Aid needs to scale up to meet the dire needs on the ground. Gaza needs a steady daily flow of aid.”
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes killed nearly the entire family of a paediatrician in Khan Younis on Saturday while she was tending to the wounded at work. The home of Dr Alaa al-Najjar, who works at Nasser Hospital, was hit and set ablaze, killing nine of her ten children.
“She went to her house and saw her children burnt. May God help her,” said her sister-in-law, Tahani Yahya al-Najjar.
Dr al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, was critically wounded in the strike, suffering severe chest and head injuries including a skull fracture. He is being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Their only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, is also severely injured and currently in the moderate ICU ward alongside his mother.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said the children killed ranged in age from seven months to 12 years, and named them as Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan, and Yahya. Two of the bodies remain trapped under the rubble.
“It is unbelievable,” said Dr Muhammad al-Farra. “You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”
The death toll in Gaza continues to rise sharply. At least 53,939 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on the enclave since October 2023, according to the Health Ministry. A further 204 people were injured in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of wounded to 122,797.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the ministry added.
In northern Gaza, seven Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces shelled a house in the Jabalia Nazla area. A Palestinian journalist, Hassan Majdi Abu Warda, was also killed alongside several family members in a separate strike on their home in the same neighbourhood.
A pregnant woman was killed and several others injured when Israeli fighter jets struck a tent sheltering displaced civilians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Another air strike targeting a tent in Deir al-Balah killed five members of the same family. In Khan Younis, an Israeli drone strike on a civilian house killed a man and his wife, and wounded others.
A Palestinian doctor was killed in Israeli shelling of al-Mawasi, western Khan Younis. Three more people were also reported dead following Israeli strikes in the same area. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that five people were killed when Israeli forces struck a two-storey building in Jabalia. The agency also reported that two more civilians were killed and others wounded in another drone attack on a home in western Khan Younis.
On Saturday alone, Israeli forces killed at least 50 Palestinians across various areas of the Gaza Strip.
The armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas claimed responsibility on Sunday for an ambush that killed and injured several Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. According to the Qassam Brigades, fighters detonated explosives inside a house east of al-Qarara, Khan Younis, where Israeli soldiers had taken up positions. The group said that additional explosives were triggered at a tunnel opening when more soldiers arrived, and that Israeli helicopters were seen evacuating the wounded. The Israeli military has not commented on the claims.
As fighting intensifies, Gaza’s collapsing health system is under mounting strain. At least ten hospitals and clinics were struck by Israeli forces in the past week, causing partial or total shutdowns, Haaretz reported on Saturday. The attack on the European Hospital in Khan Younis marked the beginning of Israel’s expanded ground offensive—dubbed the Gideon Chariots operation—approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet on May 4 and launched on May 18.
“These strikes severely increased pressure on Gaza’s collapsing health system,” the paper reported, citing the Health Ministry, which estimates that 400,000 people are now without access to medical care. The World Health Organization (WHO) documented 28 attacks on hospitals last week alone—4% of all hospital assaults since the beginning of the war.
“Military assaults in Gaza are pushing the health system to collapse,” WHO warned on social media, noting that 94% of Gaza’s hospitals have sustained major damage or been destroyed.
Violence also continues to surge in the occupied West Bank. At least 14 Palestinians were injured and eight detained during Israeli military raids on Sunday, according to medics. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a young man was run over by a military jeep in Bruqin, west of Salfit, and taken to hospital, while another man was assaulted by soldiers and treated in the field.
In Nablus, two Palestinians, including a child, were injured by Israeli gunfire. Ten others suffered temporary asphyxiation when Israeli forces fired tear gas. Local sources said illegal Israeli settlers attacked homes on the outskirts of Bruqin and set one house ablaze.
Israeli military raids also led to the arrest of eight Palestinians across the West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner Society said four people were detained in Jenin, while WAFA reported that four others, including a minor, were taken into custody in Hebron and Bethlehem.
[Photo: Palestinian woman mourns the loss of her loved ones after Israeli forces attack the tent where Abu Shalaby family was staying, in Deir al Balah, Gaza on May 25, 2025. The attack killed and injured many people, including children. The bodies of those who lost their lives were brought to the Aqsa Martyrs hospital. Photojournalist: Ashraf Amra/AA]
