Israeli bombardment of Gaza killed at least 13 Palestinians in pre-dawn attacks across the enclave, while the Kamal Adwan Hospital continued to be targeted and attacked by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency said that 10 of those killed in the attacks were in southern Khan Younis, while the others were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Deir al-Balah.
One of those killed was identified as Alaa al-Derawi, a volunteer for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, who was on his way back from transporting patients to the ambulance station in Rafah when he was shot in the chest and killed.
Israel’s attacks on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza left over 20 patients wounded.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, issued a statement on Tuesday saying that Israel has employed the use of quadcopters to attack the facility, and “this time they are larger and carrying boxes of explosives”.
“Each box appears to exceed twenty kilograms, and they are currently being dropped on the surrounding houses near the hospital. The attacks cause explosions followed by fires in the targeted areas. Anyone moving in the hospital yard is at risk” he added.
The hospital’s generators have been targeted more than once, putting over 65 patients at risk.
The Indonesian Hospital, one of the last partially functioning hospitals in the north, has also been attacked in recent days and is now out of service, Al Jazeera reported.
The report adds that due to the incessant attacks, it now serves as a shelter with only minimal healthcare provided, while Israeli soldiers were captured in footage bragging about targeting the building.
Starvation ‘will exceed famine levels soon’
Meanwhile, deaths from starvation could likely pass famine levels in north Gaza as soon as next month, a US global food crisis monitor said on Tuesday.
The stark warning comes as Israel continues imposing an almost total blockade on the north of the Strip and obstructing essential food aid.
The warning from the FEWS NET food monitor, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development, came on Monday and stated that Israel has enforced an almost total blockade of humanitarian aid in north Gaza, for almost 80 days.
The report was shortly taken down from the website, despite corresponding to other reports raising the alarm over food insecurity in the north.
It came after Jake Lew, the US ambassador to Israel criticised the report, alleging that it “relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate”.
Global NGO Oxfam also said this week that only nine UN trucks have been able to bring in food and water over the past two and a half months.
The UN also said that since 1 December, Israeli authorities have obstructed 48 of 52 attempts to co-ordinate humanitarian access to north Gaza, and the four approved attempts also faced challenges.
Military operations ‘won’t recover Israeli captives’
The continued attacks come after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled this week that ‘some progress’ was being made regarding a captive deal.
“We are taking actions to bring them back. I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home,” Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday.
Israel’s minister of immigration on Wednesday told the Israeli Army Radio it would be “impossible to recover 100” captives from Gaza through military operations, urging for a deal.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,338 Palestinians and wounded 107,764 since 7 October 2023. The war on the besieged enclave has levelled entire neighbourhoods and utterly devastated the Gaza Strip
