The strikes, which began overnight, saw entire families killed in their sleep as Israeli forces resumed their bombardment of the besieged territory [Getty]
Amnesty International has condemned a wave of Israeli air strikes on Gaza that killed at least 414 Palestinians, including 174 children, and injured over 550 overnight on Tuesday.
The renewed deadly assault, described as a “desperately dark day for humanity” by Amnesty’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard, has drawn widespread concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The strikes, which began overnight, saw entire families killed in their sleep as Israeli forces resumed their bombardment of the besieged territory.
The renewed attacks come amid Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has cut off vital humanitarian aid, medicine, fuel, and food supplies since 2 March.
According to UK-based rights group, this siege has left Gaza’s population in increasingly dire conditions, with limited access to healthcare and essential resources.
“Palestinians in Gaza – who have barely had a chance to start piecing together their lives and continue to grapple with the trauma of Israel’s past attacks – have woken up once more to the hellish nightmare of intense bombardment,” Callamard said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gaza’s healthcare system, already decimated by previous Israeli military campaigns, is now on the brink of collapse.
Amnesty reported that Al-Shifa Hospital, once Gaza’s largest medical complex, had just three available beds to accommodate those wounded in the latest strikes.
At Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, staff were forced to treat some of the 80 injured patients in corridors and even in the hospital yard.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian hospital, the only medical facility still functioning in northern Gaza, is struggling to rebuild following earlier destruction.
Medical staff in Gaza described harrowing scenes as hospitals struggled to cope with casualties, while vital supplies such as surgical tools, pain relief, and antibiotics remained critically scarce.
Amnesty warned that the destruction of healthcare infrastructure, coupled with the blockade on aid, effectively amounts to a “death sentence” for many with treatable injuries and illnesses.
The renewed strikes also place the lives of 24 remaining Israeli captives believed to be alive at risk, Amnesty noted.
Callamard stressed that all civilian captives and arbitrarily detained Palestinians held in Israeli jails must be released.
Amnesty has called on world leaders to urgently press Israel to end its military campaign and allow the unconditional delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The rights group urged global powers to uphold their obligations under international law to prevent and punish genocide while calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.
