The Gaza Health Ministry on Friday reported that at least 76 people have been killed across Gaza in the past 24 hours as Israel intensified a major offensive, with casualties mounting amid ongoing airstrikes.
Eyewitnesses in the Jabalia refugee camp reported that the attacks left around 50 people dead or missing. “The Israeli military is killing civilians for fun," one witness claimed.
Residents said that Israel has shown no regard for the rules of war, having destroyed civilian infrastructure and killed thousands under the pretext of targeting Hamas. “This is not a war; there are no clear objectives; all Israel wants is to occupy more and more land in Gaza as well as in the West Bank,” a resident said.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that the conflict in Gaza has reached the “cruellest phase of this cruel conflict,” with Palestinians starving while Israel permits only a “teaspoon of aid” into the famine-stricken territory.
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“Nothing has reached the besieged north," Guterres said, noting that the UN has 160,000 pallets of food—enough to fill 9,000 trucks—ready for delivery, pending Israeli approval. He added that Israel continues to block essential items such as fuel, shelter materials, cooking gas, and water purification supplies, all of which the UN has prepared for distribution to those most in need.
The UN chief reminded Israel that, as the occupying power, it is legally obliged under humanitarian and international law to provide aid to the population it occupies.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 53,822 Palestinians and wounded 122,382. The Government Media Office has placed the death toll at more than 61,700, stating that thousands of people presumed dead remain buried under rubble. By comparison, an estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
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