The Ministry of Health says this is the largest number of deaths in Gaza within 24 hours since the start of the Israeli attack.
More than 700 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight, according to Palestinian officials, the highest death toll in 24 hours since Israel began bombing the blockaded enclave earlier this month.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had struck more than 400 “Hamas targets” and killed dozens of Hamas fighters in the attacks, and warned that it would take time to achieve its goal of destroying the Palestinian group.
Israel launched an attack on Gaza after Hamas fighters killed at least 1,400 people in a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The Health Ministry in Gaza, ruled by Hamas, said at least 5,791 Palestinians, including 2,360 children, were killed in the Israeli attack.
The ministry said on Tuesday that 704 people were killed in the past 24 hours alone.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said that this is the highest number of deaths within 24 hours during two weeks of Israeli bombing.
Thousands of families were immediately displaced; “It is full of rubble and debris everywhere,” Al Jazeera’s Youmna Al-Sayed said in a report from Gaza.
“You can hear the sound of Israeli drones and planes in the sky. Everyone says, everyone feels that there is no safe place in the Strip to be anymore.”
The Israeli army said it killed three Hamas deputy leaders in the attacks.
Witnesses and health officials said that several air strikes hit residential buildings, some in southern Gaza, where Israel asked civilians to take shelter.
Survivors told the Associated Press news agency that an overnight attack destroyed a four-story residential building in the southern city of Khan Yunis, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens of others.
In Gaza City, at least 19 people were killed when an airstrike hit the Bahloul family home, according to survivors, who said dozens more people were still buried. Workers pulled at least two children from the collapsed building.
Aid trucks
In addition to bombing the area, Israel has blocked access to food, water, medicine and fuel in a “total siege.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said that more than 40 medical centers stopped working due to shortages and damage resulting from the bombing.
Several aid trucks have crossed from Egypt into Gaza since Sunday, but the United Nations has warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if aid shipments are not significantly increased.
“The aid that resumed from Egypt over the weekend is just a drop in the ocean of what is needed,” said Jeremy Lawrence, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the fuel, which was not delivered due to the agreement with Israel, was crucial.
UNRWA spokeswoman Tamara Al-Rifai said, “Fuel is very urgent because without fuel, the trucks themselves will not be able to move.” “Without fuel, generators cannot produce electricity for hospitals, bakeries and the desalination plant.”
UN relief agencies said on Tuesday they were “on their knees” pleading for unhindered aid entry into Gaza.
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