Israeli strikes on Gaza kill more than 90 people in 48 hours, say Palestinians

ISRAELI STRIKES IN Gaza have killed more than 90 people in the past 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said, as Israeli troops increase attacks to pressure Hamas to release its hostages and disarm.

The dead include 15 people who were killed overnight, among them women and children, some of who were sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff.

At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them sheltering in a tent in the Mwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living, hospital workers said.

Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone.

Four people were killed in separate strikes in Rafah city, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy large “security zones” inside the strip. For six weeks its troops have also blockaded Gaza, barring the entry of food and other goods.

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This week, aid groups raised alarm, saying thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, Dr Hanan Balkhy, the head of the World Health Organisation’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new US ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicines and other aid can enter the strip.

“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation first hand,” she said.

In his first appearance as ambassador on Friday, Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by US President Donald Trump.

Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas. On October 7, Hamas abducted 251 people when it attacked southern Israel.

Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s war in Gaza has since killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities, and displaced around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.