According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, the number of people killed in the Israel-Hamas war since October 7 has risen to 32,552.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have also wounded at least 74,980 people.
Over the last 24 hours, 62 people have been killed and 91 were wounded.
More than 14,000 children have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. In addition, thousands are left suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military stated on Thursday, March 28, 2024, that it is continuing operations in al-Shifa Hospital for a 10th day, claiming to have killed some 200 fighters in and around the facility since the siege began.
Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital with tanks and heavy gunfire on March 18, 2024, and have been laying siege to it since. The military claims that it is targeting “terrorists” sheltering inside the medical facility.
In a post on Telegram, the military claimed that its troops have also “evacuated civilians, patients, and medical teams” from the hospital and taken them to “alternative medical facilities.”
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor accused Israeli forces of directly shooting at and executing 13 children in and near al-Shifa Hospital in just one week.
The monitoring group, citing its teams on the ground, said that some of the fatal shootings occurred as victims’ families were inside their homes and others while the victims were attempting to escape via routes designated as safe.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released a situation report stating that two-thirds of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are “non-functional” while those that remain open are either “minimally” or “partially” functional.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also reported that the healthcare system in northern Gaza “has been largely destroyed” and is on the “brink of collapse” in the south.
Details contained in the latest UN OCHA situation report are grim. Fifteen malnourished children a day are being received at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is struggling to maintain services amid a lack of water, food and sanitation.
Doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza say that they are seeing many infants daily whose weight does not match their age.
They are appealing for desperately needed supplies as at least 27 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration since October.
It noted that Israeli forces have dumped dirt in the entrances of the al-Amal Hospital in southern Khan Younis after it ordered the hospital to be emptied of staff and patients.
The report added that conditions at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis are “unimaginable” and “beyond comprehension.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) posted on social media, “Our food convoys are prevented from reaching the north, where famine is imminent.”
“Restrictions must be lifted now,” it said, stressing that “the clock is ticking fast towards famine.”
Al-Shifa Fighting Indicates Palestinian Combat Effectiveness
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in their latest Gaza battlefield assessment, that Palestinian fighters have carried out almost 70 attacks against Israeli forces in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City since March 18, when the Israeli military returned to the area.
“This high rate of attack indicates that Palestinian militias retain a significant degree of combat effectiveness in the area, despite continued Israeli clearing efforts around Gaza City,” the war monitors said.
The US-based think tanks said at least six armed Palestinian groups are battling Israeli forces deployed around al-Shifa Hospital.
The latest ISW/CTP noted that despite Israel completing a “clearing operation” in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood on March 3, 2024, Israeli forces returned to the area, a move which suggests Palestinian fighters continue to operate there as they do elsewhere in Gaza City,
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