Israeli strikes kill 51 in Gaza as aid groups collect limited supplies
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed dozens of Palestinians since dawn, medical sources said, as limited supplies of humanitarian aid trickled into the Palestinian territory after Israel eased its total blockade.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that at least 51 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including 25 in Gaza City and northern areas of the Strip.
At least 10 people, including nine members of the same family, were killed in an Israeli attack that hit an area housing displaced people in the al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Five people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Bakhit family home in the as-Saftawi area, in northwest Gaza, Wafa reported.
In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the health ministry said.
Rescue workers had been trying to extinguish the fires for hours, it added.
Tanks are stationed outside the hospital, medics say, effectively blocking access to the facility.
The attacks come as aid groups collected humanitarian supplies carried by about 90 trucks that have entered Gaza since Israel began allowing limited goods in earlier this week, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian agency OCHA, said the trucks that entered carried medicine, wheat flour and nutrition supplies.
Aid groups face significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, Laerke added.
The Gaza Government Media Office said late on Wednesday that 87 aid trucks were allocated to international and local organisations to meet 'urgent humanitarian needs'.
Al Jazeera's Tarek Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the food trucks entered on Wednesday and 'successfully off-loaded' at designated UN distribution centres.
Since then, some bakeries have 'resumed operations', he said, citing Gaza's media office.
'This has been a significant logistical step forward,' Abu Azzoum said, but noted that the supplies were still a 'trickle' compared with the needs of the population in Gaza, where experts warn of a looming famine.
Due to security concerns, food aid has also not yet reached the northern part of Gaza, where thousands of civilians are also under siege, our correspondent said.
'The question here remains whether Israel would allow an unconditional flow of aid to the Gaza Strip,' he said, adding that the UN has been demanding at least 500 food trucks be allowed into the territory daily after more than 80 days of a complete blockade.
On Wednesday, the UN said it was trying to get the desperately needed aid as quickly as possible into the hands of Palestinians amid delays because of fears of looting and Israeli military restrictions and strikes.
Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies after weeks of near-total isolation, with Israel's blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages, and fears of a widespread famine.
According to the UN, half a million people, or one in five people in the Gaza Strip, are facing starvation while the entire population continues to face a critical risk of famine.
Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as 'worrying and painful' and called for 'the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid'.
In recent days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel is days away from implementing a new aid system in Gaza that has come under heavy international criticism.
He said Israel later plans to create a 'sterile zone' there, free of Hamas, where the population, which has repeatedly evacuated and relocated throughout the war, would be moved and receive supplies.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18. At least 53,655 have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.
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