An Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others.
The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas. The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population.
The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 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.
Two U.N. aid convoys were violently attacked in Gaza, making it virtually impossible for humanitarian agencies to operate without putting staff and civilians at risk, the U.N. food agency says.
On Wednesday, a 70-truck convoy from Kerem Shalom was waiting for personnel to safeguard the food and other aid destined for central Gaza when there were reported attacks by Israeli forces in the nearby humanitarian zone, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday.
More than 50 people are now estimated to have died in the attacks, including civilians and local security personnel who had been expected to ensure the convoy’s safety, WFP said.
The Rome-based agency said the convoy was forced to proceed from Kerem Shalom to central Gaza without any security arrangements, using the Philadelphi corridor, an Israeli-controlled route that had been recently approved and successfully utilized twice.
On the way, WFP said, conflict and insecurity led to a loss of communications with the convoy for more than 12 hours. ”Eventually, the trucks were found but all food and aid supplies were looted,” the U.N. agency said.
In a second incident, Israeli soldiers approached a WFP convoy moving out of the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, fired warning shots, conducted extensive security checks, and temporarily detained drivers and staff, the agency said.
“As the trucks were delayed, four out of the five trucks were lost to violent armed looting,” WFP said.
