DEIR AL-BALAH (Dispatches) -- Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Friday, while UNICEF said children are paying the highest price in Israel’s onslaught, with one child killed or injured every 20 minutes on average.
Israel’s extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for using “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal which meant “the perpetuation of occupation”.
“Mr. Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again -- there are no more excuses,” Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel.
Experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade of Gaza has pushed the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians to the brink of famine.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 54,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Muhammad Abed said he and his family suffer greatly trying to find food and eat only one meal a day because of shortages. He said he waits for three hours daily to get a small amount of rice.
“It’s heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes,” Abed told The Associated Press in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
Fuad Muheisen from Deir a-Balah said if charity kitchens shut down “all of Gaza will die. No one will stay alive.”
Mnawar al-Rai said she has been displaced five times with her family and now is settled in Deir al-Balah where they tried to collect aid in recent days but came under fire.
She said they have to walk to three or four locations every day to collect a plate of food to feed the children, adding that almost nothing is available in markets because “merchants are exploiting people.”
Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks.
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said Friday it distributed more than 2 million of what it described as meals within four days of starting operations.
However, the GHF has faced