Rabat – Gaza City is facing some of its heaviest attacks in weeks, with Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carrying out constant airstrikes and destroying homes as part of its plans to seize control of the city.
Thousands of residents remain trapped, unable to leave, while ambulances trying to rescue the wounded are also being targeted, Al Jazeera reported.
The Gaza Emergency and Ambulance Service said two Palestinians were injured when Israeli shelling hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the al-Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City.
The attack comes as Israel intensifies strikes on densely populated areas in both the north and south, killing dozens of Palestinians, and reducing entire neighbourhoods, especially in Zeitoun and Khan Younis, to rubble.
According to Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal, Israeli forces have been firing on emergency vehicles in Zeitoun and preventing rescuers from reaching the wounded. He urged the international community to act, saying residential buildings are being repeatedly hit, causing high numbers of casualties.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) says conditions in Gaza City are worsening rapidly. Malnutrition now affects 21.5% of young children, which is nearly one in five, and the city is enduring a severe heatwave with temperatures above 40°C.
With little access to clean water, dehydration is becoming a serious risk. UNRWA also warned that its staff are “exhausted, psychologically strained,” and in many cases struggling with hunger themselves.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials have condemned far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after he entered the prison cell of senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and threatened him. Barghouti, who has been imprisoned for years, is in poor health after long periods of solitary confinement, beatings, and shackling.
Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestine’s representative to the UN in Geneva, accused Israel of torturing prisoners and using starvation as punishment, calling the treatment of Barghouti a violation of international law. He urged the release of vulnerable detainees, including children, the sick, and those held without charge.
The UN has also reacted to the video of Ben-Gvir’s prison visit, calling it “disturbing.” UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said all prisoners must be treated with dignity, their rights respected, and their safety ensured.
