42 killed by Israeli army across Gaza: Civil defence

Gaza, Aug 18 (IANS) At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, Gaza's Civil Defence said.

Civil Defence Spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua news agency on Sunday that seven people were killed in Israeli shelling near the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, and at least one person was killed in an Israeli shelling of a house in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of the city.

Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent housing displaced persons in west of Khan Younis, Basal said.

Twelve Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on various areas of Khan Younis, while two separate airstrikes killed three people in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to Basal.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting for aid in the central and southern Gaza Strip, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on these incidents, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 10,400 Palestinians have been killed and 43,845 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 61,944, with a total of 155,886 people injured, according to data released by health authorities in Gaza on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Gaza health authorities said that the hospitals in Gaza registered seven new deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children.

That brought the total number of deaths from starvation and malnutrition to 258, including 110 children, since October 2023.

Also on August 10, aircraft from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium conducted a joint airdrop operation, delivering 93 tonnes of food and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Jordan Armed Forces.

Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 9,921 Palestinians have been killed and 41,172 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 61,430, with a total of 153,213 people injured, according to health authorities in Gaza on August 10.

--IANS

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