Israel kills 73 in Gaza as UK, EU and others slam ‘unimaginable’ suffering aljazeera.com

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Israeli forces have killed at least 73 Palestinians in Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to medics, as two more people, including a six-year-old child, died from Israel-induced starvation in the coastal enclave.

Those killed on Tuesday included 19 aid seekers, as the European Union and 26 countries, including Canada, France and the United Kingdom, condemned the “unimaginable levels” of suffering in Gaza and called for urgent action to halt and reverse the unfolding famine in the war-torn territory.

Survivors of the latest attacks on aid seekers, which took place near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, described horrific scenes.

“There was gunfire all around; we didn’t know what was happening. People were dying in front of us, bullets flying between our legs, and we couldn’t do anything,” said a man who gave his name as Sayyid.

Another survivor, Mohammed Abu Nahl, described crawling on his stomach, “with bullets flying all around”, as the wounded and dead lay all around him.

“The dead were lying beneath us, and we were pulling them out,” he said. “I came here just to feed my children. I have no money to buy food. If I had food and water, I wouldn’t come here. What should I do? Steal? Loot?

The killings at Zikim take the death toll of aid seekers to more than 1,838 since late May, when the notorious United States-backed GHF began its operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Nasser Medical Complex, meanwhile, announced the deaths of six-year-old Jamal Fadi al-Najjar and 30-year-old Wissam Abu Mohsen from malnutrition.

The worsening crisis has prompted strong denunciation from dozens of Western nations.

As the number of Israeli-imposed hunger-related deaths continues to rise, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged Israel to allow it to stock medical supplies in Gaza before the Israeli military proceeds with its plan to seize Gaza City, a move that has also drawn international condemnation.

Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza City has intensified for three consecutive days. The military is using “all types of weapons… bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes”.

Rescue operations have also come under fire. The Civil Defence said one of its members, Abdul Rahman Maher Abu Latifa, was killed in an Israeli strike on his tent in al-Mawasi. Both his parents were also killed. The service said 137 of its members have been killed since the war began.

Another paramedic, Noah al-Shagnoubi, described being attacked while trying to help wounded people in Gaza City.Israel is also blocking the entry of more than 430 food items into Gaza, despite allowing some aid trucks through last month under international pressure, Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Tuesday.

In a statement, it said the banned items include “frozen meat of all kinds, frozen fish, cheese, dairy products, frozen vegetables, and fruits”, along with “hundreds of other items needed by the starving and sick”.

This comes a day after Israel targeted and killed a team of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City, an attack that has sparked protests in countries across the world.