Fatalities in last 24 hours come amid public anger over mistaken killing of three hostages by Israel’s army
Airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 36 people over the last 24 hours as Israel’s leadership faces growing international pressure for a ceasefire and calls at home to resume hostage negotiations after the Israeli army shot and killed three men kidnapped by Hamas.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said on Sunday that at least 24 people were killed by Israeli bombardment in the Jabalia camp in the north, and another 12 died from bombings in the central city of Deir al-Balah, as fighting was reported in several parts of Gaza.
There are growing signs that civil order is breaking down in the besieged Palestinian territory, which measures about 25 miles (40km) by 7.5 miles and is home to 2.3 million people. On Sunday, dozens of people raided lorries carrying aid after the vehicles entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Some vehicles appeared to have been guarded by men with sticks, residents on the ground said.
About 85% of the population have been displaced from their homes, some multiple times, while food, water, fuel and electricity remain scarce. Aid deliveries through the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel resumed on Sunday for the first time since the war broke out, although aid agencies have warned that an expected doubling of the amount entering each day – 100 trucks – is still a fraction of what is needed to alleviate the dire humanitarian crisis.
Al Jazeera broadcast footage from the churned-up grounds of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, in the north of Gaza, where it said injured and displaced people had been crushed by Israeli tanks overnight on Saturday. At least two bodies could be seen in the rubble and earth. The Israeli army said it had discovered weapons and arrested about 80 Hamas fighters at the hospital, without providing evidence.
