Israeli Forces Massacre 118 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israeli forces killed at least 118 Palestinians and wounded 581 over the previous 24-hour period as heavy US-backed Israeli strikes continued across the Strip and Israeli troops continued to shoot people seeking aid.
Thursday marks the third day in a row that the Health Ministry reported a death toll of more than 100. Based on the ministry’s numbers, which studies have found are likely a significant undercount, Israeli forces killed 369 Palestinians over a 72 hours.
Israeli attacks on Thursday included massacres of children. According to The Associated Press, an overnight strike on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians killed 13 members of one family, including six children under the age of 12. Two children, including a six-year-old girl, were among eight people reported killed by an Israeli strike that hit near a stand selling falafel in central Gaza.
An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City killed 15 people. The breakdown of the casualties is unclear, but photos of the funeral for the victims at Al-Shifa Hospital show several tiny bodies wrapped in shrouds.
Medical sources told AP that five Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces along roads while attempting to reach distribution sites run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and another 40 were killed while waiting for UN aid trucks in various parts of Gaza.
The Health Ministry said that since the GHF began operating in Gaza at the end of May, 652 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The aid massacres have continued despite more attention on the issue following a report from Haaretz that revealed IDF troops had been given orders to fire on unarmed people near GHF sites.
The AP also reported that American contractors posted at the aid sites have also been using live ammunition and stun grenades to disperse civilians near the distribution sites. In at least one case, one of the contractors who spoke to AP said it appeared fire from the US contractors hit an unarmed Palestinian.
The revelations about the aid killings have not impacted US support for Israel or support for the aid mechanism that has proven to be deadly. The Trump administration recently announced it was providing $30 million to the GHF.
Israeli Airstrike Kills Gaza Hospital Director Along With His Family
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in Gaza City killed Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the Indonesian hospital, as the Israeli military continues to kill medical workers and decimate Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.
According to The Associated Press, al-Sultan was killed alongside his wife, his daughter, and son-in-law. Other reports say his sister was also among the dead.
According to Haaretz, the Indonesian hospital has been out of service since May 21 after an Israeli airstrike destroyed its generators. Al-Sultan had been quoted by many media outlets, warning of the catastrophic destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure.
According to Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical organization, al-Sultan’s killing marks the 70th healthcare worker killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in the past 50 days.
“The killing of Dr Marwan al-Sultan by the Israeli military is a catastrophic loss to Gaza and the entire medical community, and will have a devastating impact on Gaza’s healthcare system,” said Muath Alse, director of HWW, according to The Guardian.
“This is part of a much longer and systematic atrocious targeting of healthcare workers sanctioned by impunity. This is a tragic loss of life, but also an obliteration of their decades of lifesaving medical expertise and care at a time when the situation facing Palestinian civilians is unfathomably catastrophic,” Alse added.
The Guardian report said that among the healthcare workers killed over the past 50 days were “three other doctors, the chief nurses of the Indonesian hospital and al-Nasser children’s hospital, one of Gaza’s most senior midwives, a senior radiology technician, and dozens of young medical graduates and trainee nurses. On June 6, the first day of Eid, nine healthcare workers were killed in one day in airstrikes in the north of Gaza, where they were sheltering with their families.”
A May 25 Israeli airstrike on a home in Khan Younis killed nine out of 10 children of Doctors Alaa al-Najjar and Hamdi al-Najjar. Alaa was working as a pediatrician at the Nasser hospital when the strike hit her family, and Hamdi was injured in the attack, succumbing to his wounds a few days later. Alaa and her only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, who was badly maimed, have since been evacuated to Italy for medical treatment.
Israeli Forces Kill 139 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli forces killed at least 139 Palestinians and wounded 487 over the previous 24-hour period, as US-backed Israeli strikes have ramped up across the Strip and the IDF continues to kill people seeking aid.
The Health Ministry said that the bodies of three people killed by previous Israeli attacks were also recovered from the rubble. “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
Al Jazeera reported that at least 11 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday while waiting for aid. The Health Ministry said that a total of 39 aid seekers were killed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed while attempting to get food since the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating at the end of May to 640.
Israeli media has confirmed that Israeli troops have been ordered to fire on unarmed Palestinians, and the IDF has admitted to killing civilians near aid sites, though it disputes the Health Ministry’s numbers. Despite the revelations, the aid massacres haven’t impacted US support for Israel, and the Trump administration is also now funding the GHF.
Israeli strikes on Wednesday included the bombing of a building sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, killing 17 people. An airstrike in a different part of Gaza City killed Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the Indonesian Hospital, along with several of his family members.
An expansion of Israeli operations was reported in northern Gaza, and at least one Israeli soldier was killed in the area. In southern Gaza, heavy Israeli strikes hit tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least six people in Khan Younis.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the latest violence has brought the death toll since October 7, 2023, to 57,012 and the number of wounded to 134,592. Studies have found that the Health Ministry’s numbers are a significant undercount, and estimates that factor in indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege and destruction of all of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure bring the death toll into the hundreds of thousands.
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