At least 30 killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza

UN agency calls for lifting Israel’s ban on international media in Gaza

Monitoring Desk

GAZA: At least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza since dawn, including seven people reportedly seeking aid, according to medical sources on Friday.

Two of the victims were killed in the al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah in southern Gaza, hospital officials said.

The United Nations reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire, warning that children in Gaza are running out of time.

“In Gaza, time is running out for children caught up in the horrors of war,” the UN said in a statement on X. “How much longer until a ceasefire is reached so that bombs stop falling on emaciated and dying children?”

Israeli forces are using drone-fired missiles packed with nails, causing horrific injuries, reports Al Jazeera’s Gaza City correspondent Hani Mahmoud.

“Doctors say they are doing everything possible to save the lives of many of the children who were transferred to hospital today after they sustained severe burns and injuries from flying shrapnel,” Mahmoud said.

“These drone missiles are packed with nails, and when they explode pieces of metal fly at a very high speed — piercing bodies, causing internal injuries that leads to severe bleeding that causes the majority of deaths from those attacked by drone missiles.”

“These attacks are happening despite all the claims by the Israel military that prides itself of using sophisticated, advanced weapons,” he added.

“But when we look at what’s happening on the ground, and we see the number of casualties and the kind of targets being hit, it contradicts what the Israeli military is marketing.”

An Israeli combat veteran has sounded the alarm over what he describes as a mental health crisis among soldiers returning from combat in Gaza, citing a recent spike in suicides.

Speaking to Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Tzachi Atedagi, an advocate for the mental health of soldiers, said 10 soldiers had taken their own lives in less than two weeks.

Meanwhile,  the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday called for an immediate end to Israel’s ban on international media access to Gaza, warning that the information blackout is fueling disinformation and undermining trust in eyewitness and humanitarian accounts.

Philippe Lazzarini said on X that the media ban has persisted for over 650 days amid what he described as “atrocities against civilians.”

“The ban on the entry of international media must be lifted,” Lazzarini said.

He pointed out that more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed during the ongoing conflict.

“Media ban fuels dis-information campaigns questioning firsthand data & accounts from eyewitnesses + international humanitarian organisations,” he added.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since late October 2023, killing nearly 59,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.