Ramallah [Palestine], August 27: An Israeli drone strike has killed at least seven people in Gaza City, as another evacuation order forced injured Palestinians to flee Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah, the last functioning medical facility in the area.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has announced that30 people were killed in the clave in the last 24 hours. The number of the wounded was 66.
At least 40,435 people have been killed and 93,534 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.
Amid confusion over the latest evacuation orders in central Gaza, patients and displaced Palestinians are fleeing Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The United Nations' humanitarian aid operations in Gaza have been halted after Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, citing a senior UN official. "We're unable to deliver today with the conditions that we're in," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We're not leaving [Gaza] because the people need us there. We're trying to balance the need of the population with the need for safety and security of the UN personnel."
The official said the UN had relocated its main command operations for the Gaza Strip and most UN personnel to Deir el-Balah after Israel ordered the evacuation of Rafah in the south of Gaza. Israeli authorities continue to challenge humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip as they expand their ground attacks, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported.
"In the last two months, WFP has managed to bring in only half of the 24,000 MT [metric tonnes] of food aid required for operations serving 1.1 million people," it said. The amount of food aid that entered southern Gaza in July was one of the lowest since October 7, UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
Meanwhile, 60 global press freedom and human rights organisations have signed a letter calling on the European Union to take decisive action against Israel for its escalating violations of media freedom and the killing of journalists in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel.
Source: Qatar Tribune
