DEIR AL-BALAH – More than 90 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in the past 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, reporte by The Frontier Post. The strikes come as Israel ramps up its military pressure on Hamas to release hostages and lay down weapons.
Among the dead are 15 people killed overnight, including women and children who were reportedly sheltering in a humanitarian zone. In the southern city of Khan Younis, 11 people were killed, some while staying in tents in the Mwasi area, which Israel itself had marked as a safe zone. Four more deaths were reported in Rafah, including a mother and her daughter, hospital officials said.
Israel says it plans to expand attacks and take control of “security zones” inside Gaza. For the past six weeks, Gaza has been under a strict blockade, with food, medicine, and other basic supplies largely blocked from entering.
Aid groups and the United Nations warn that the situation is becoming critical. Many people in Gaza are eating just one meal a day, and thousands of children are now malnourished.
Dr. Hanan Balkhy, head of the WHO’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged new U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to visit Gaza and push for humanitarian access. “I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said.
On Friday, Huckabee made his first appearance as ambassador by visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem. He said efforts are ongoing to bring home the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel.
Since then, over 51,000 Palestinians have been killed, and nearly 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced.
