Israeli attacks have killed dozens of people in Gaza, including children, Palestinian health officials reported, as the region is gripped by food shortages and fears of famine.
The attacks were launched hours after the UN general assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
An Israeli strike late on Thursday killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50 others who were sheltering in a post office in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, medics told Reuters.
That strike came after previous Israeli attacks elsewhere in Nuseirat and on aid convoys in southern Gaza in which dozens more were killed.
In the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabalia, which the army has sealed off from the rest of Gaza since October, the health ministry said an orthopaedic doctor, Saeed Judeh, was killed by an armed quadcopter drone as he was travelling from Kamal Adwan hospital to treat patients at al-Awda hospital.
The health ministry said his death raised to 1,057 the number of healthcare workers killed since the war began.
Palestinian medical officials had reported at least 28 people killed earlier in the day, including seven children and a woman. One of the strikes flatted a house in Nuseirat, according to al-Aqsa Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the bodies were taken.
Two separate Israeli strikes in Rafah and Khan Younis killed at least 13 Palestinians who Gaza medics and Hamas said were part of a force protecting humanitarian aid trucks. Israel’s military said they were Hamas militants trying to hijack the shipment and said the strikes were aimed at ensuring the safe delivery of the aid.
A video shared by Gaza’s local media showed the aftermath of the attacks, with aid convoy security personnel allegedly targeted near Khan Younis.
According to local media, their work was integral in facilitating the delivery of essential supplies to displaced Palestinians in Gaza, where food shortages and the looming threat of famine persist.
Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023. It has accused Israel of trying to protect looting and “creating anarchy and chaos to prevent aid from reaching the people of Gaza”.
On Wednesday, the UN general assembly approved resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which has been banned by Israel.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the challenges faced by humanitarian operations deemed them “unnecessarily impossible”. This was due to a combination of factors including “the ongoing siege, hurdles from Israeli authorities, political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid, lack of safety on aid routes and targeting of local police” securing aid convoys.
Lazzarini urged Israel to guarantee the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza and emphasised that it “must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers”.
On Thursday, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said he believed a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release may be close as Israel had signalled it was ready and there were signs of movement from Hamas.
After meeting the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Sullivan said: “It might not happen but I believe it can happen with political will on both sides.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 people. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Thousands more people are believed to be buried under the rubble and tens of thousands have been wounded.
The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
