Over 5,000 deaths, majority civilians, and 40% children

Agencies | Gaza                                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Deaths in Gaza topped 5,000 yesterday, a majority of them civilians and over 40 per cent children, since Israel began relentlessly pounding the Palestinian exclave after a Hamas attack on October 7th killed around 1,400 Israelis.

Over one million of the 2.3 million people in Gaza have been displaced and thousands of buildings, including homes, mosques, hospitals and schools, have been destroyed in the repeated air strikes by Israel.

Having caused a death toll that is over three times that of Hamas, Israel has ramped up its attack on the Gazans, who are facing an acute shortage of food, water, and fuel following the two-week siege by Israel, forcing the UN to warn that international aid is only a trickle of what is needed.

An AFP report of yesterday evening quoted the Gaza government as saying that Israeli strikes overnight killed over 60 people, including 17 in a single strike on a house in Jabaliya in northern Gaza. Yesterday morning, at least 10 more were killed, the report said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh yesterday accused Western nations of giving Israel a “licence to kill”, in an apparent reference to recent statements made by Western leaders supporting Israeli actions. China’s Middle East envoy will arrive in the UAE late evening on Monday to continue a visit to the region with the aim of cooling down the conflict.

Around a dozen aid trucks, which is the third convoy within three days, arrived in Gaza yesterday through the Rafah border crossing point with Egypt. About 100 trucks of aid are needed per day in Gaza, according to the UN.