GAZA: In a new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation tanks and artillery strikes, at least 104 civilians were killed and dozens were injured today while waiting for food aid in Al-Rashid Street southwest of Gaza City.
Medical sources said that occupation forces opened heavy machine-gun fire towards thousands of citizens from the northern Gaza Strip, specifically from Gaza City, Jabalia and Beit Hanoun, who were waiting for the arrival of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid in Al-Rashid Street southwest of Gaza City, resulting in the killing of over 104 persons.
Scores of wounded individuals were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, noting that these numbers exceed the capacity of the medical staff.
In the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, occupation aircraft bombed entire residential squares above the heads of their residents, resulting in in the killing of dozens of civilians and causing multiple causalities.
Ambulances and civil defense vehicles were unable to reach the targeted areas
due to the intensity of the ongoing Israeli shelling.
The Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to continuous Israeli aggression since October 7, is living in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, amounting to famine.
According to the World Food Programme, its teams reported that citizens were suffering from “unprecedented levels of despair,” while the United Nations warned that 2.2 million people were on the brink of famine.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the citizens of Gaza are suffering from unprecedented levels of acute food insecurity and hunger, and that conditions in Gaza resemble famine.
It explained that all of Gaza’s approximately 2.2 million citizens belong to one of three levels of hunger, which range from emergency to crisis to disaster. These are conditions that FAO has not witnessed before in any country around the world,
FAO added that what raises concern is that more of people in Gaza are moving into famine, and at least 25% of the Strip’s pop
ulation has reached the highest levels of hunger classification.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that alarming food shortages and increasing malnutrition and diseases could lead to an “explosion” in the number of children deaths in Gaza.
One in six children under the age of two in Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF estimates published on February 19.
The occupation authorities continue to obstruct the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, especially to the northern regions, while the aid that reaches the south of the Strip is not sufficient for the needs of citizens, especially in Rafah, which is considered the last refuge for the displaced persons.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA