At least 12 Palestinians lost their lives on Thursday in a fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, hours after the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that sought an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
According to reports, Israeli fighter jets targeted the Zeitoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, killing three people in a strike on a residential building. The airstrikes also reached al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, where at least six people were reported dead after an Israeli drone strike hit tents sheltering displaced persons.
Medical sources in Gaza confirmed the fatalities, while eyewitness accounts cited by local media described the overnight assault as “intense and deliberate”.
The latest casualties come amid growing international outcry over the humanitarian toll of the conflict. The US stood alone in its veto of a ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council, effectively blocking a consensus call to end the hostilities. Other member states, including close US allies, abstained or voted in favour of the measure.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced on Thursday that it would temporarily suspend operations at its limited aid centres for maintenance work. The closure comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are reportedly facing acute hunger, with aid convoys struggling to reach the besieged territory.
Also read: Violence at Gaza aid centres is no surprise
Gaza’s Health Ministry said that Israeli forces had also targeted the roof of an administration building at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in what it described as part of a “systematic policy of undermining” the strip’s healthcare infrastructure.
In a parallel development, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) confirmed that a vessel carrying humanitarian supplies and 12 international activists—including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg—is currently en route to Gaza. The FFC, a network of civil society groups, has regularly attempted to break the naval blockade to deliver aid directly.
The violence was not confined to Gaza alone. In the occupied West Bank, at least 35 Palestinians were injured in a settler-led attack near Ramallah, according to local media reports. The incident is one of many recent flare-ups in the territory amid heightened tensions.
The ongoing Israeli offensive, launched in the aftermath of Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, has thus far claimed 54,607 Palestinian lives and injured more than 125,000 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
In Israel, the initial assault killed 1,139 people, and more than 200 individuals were taken hostage.
As ceasefire efforts falter and violence continues to escalate, international observers warn of a deepening humanitarian crisis with few signs of resolution in sight.
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