The Ministry of Health in Gaza said the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip has killed 29,878 and injured 70,215 people since 7 October. It also said the Israeli forces committed 11 massacres in the Strip, killing 96 and wounding 172 in the last 24 hours.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that more than four months of siege have left one million children in Gaza with severe food insecurity and a health crisis. It said more than 95% of families in Gaza reduced the adult food portion to feed their children.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian Air Force dropped food and medical aid into Gaza, with Emirati and Jordanian support. The Egyptian Armed Forces spokesperson said Egypt aimed to provide relief, shelter, and treatment to thousands of Palestinians displaced by the Israeli siege.
The United Nations said the Israeli forces “systematically” blocked Gaza residents from getting aid, making it hard to deliver aid to a lawless war zone.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said it was almost impossible to evacuate the sick and wounded and deliver aid in northern Gaza, and it was also harder in the south.
Laerke mentioned an incident on Sunday when the World Health Organization and the Palestinian Red Crescent tried to evacuate patients from the besieged Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, a southern city. The Israeli forces stopped them for seven hours and detained some paramedics.
Jordanian King Abdullah II joined the airdrop operations by the Royal Jordanian Air Force to give relief and food aid to Gaza on Tuesday, a statement by the Jordanian Armed Forces said.
The statement said the king’s participation confirmed “Jordan’s ongoing support for our Palestinian brothers, to deliver aid by all means to the people of Gaza.”
The statement said six C-130 aircraft flew from Amman, the capital, including three Royal Jordanian Air Force aircraft, and three others (Emirati, Egyptian and French). They were part of the humanitarian aid operation to help the people of Gaza, with the participation of friendly countries.
The Israeli army said, on Tuesday, that 13 of its soldiers were wounded in battles in Gaza in the last 24 hours. It said the number of wounded Israeli officers and soldiers since the start of the siege on 7 October was 2,981, including “465 seriously injured, 791 moderately injured, and 1,724 lightly injured.”
