The southern Gaza Strip was the scene of intense Israeli bombardment from Tuesday night into Wednesday, despite international pressure for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Palestinian territory, which was threatened not only by hostilities but also by famine, France Presse reported. Palestinians left without food have resulted in some of them dying trying to retrieve food items dropped by parachutes from the sea or in the stampede trying to get such precious aid.

A fireball lit up the night sky over the city of Rafah after an air strike hit the city in the southern Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, most of whom have been displaced by months of clashes between the Israeli army and the Islamist movement Hamas.

The Hamas Health Ministry said on Wednesday morning that 3 Palestinians were killed and 12 wounded in overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Rafah sector.

Airdrops of aid create deadly situations in the Gaza Strip

The Hamas Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 18 people had died, 12 of whom drowned at sea while trying to retrieve food that had been parachuted into Gaza, while another six died in the stampede, also while trying to get these essential supplies. means of assistance. .

Hamas has appealed to foreign countries to end such operations and demanded that ground access for humanitarian aid, which is tightly controlled by Israel, be opened.

Aid, which is completely insufficient to meet the enormous needs of the 2.4 million inhabitants, comes mainly from Egypt via Rafah, but barely reaches northern Gaza, where children have died of malnutrition. Here, residents wait for food to be parachuted and run after it when it falls to the ground.

“Airdropped aid is one of the many ways we are providing much-needed aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, and we will continue to do so,” while “working tirelessly to increase the flow of humanitarian aid on the ground,” he said. White House.

During a visit to Israel, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock called for a large-scale expansion of food supplies to Gaza by facilitating the passage of trucks.

“People die for a can of tuna”

“People are dying for a can of tuna,” said one Palestinian, Mohamad Al-Sabaawi, holding the only can of fish he could get his hands on.

“We are waiting for help, we are ready to die to get a can of beans, which we then share among 18 people,” said another Palestinian, adding that he is in a dire situation.

The sanitary situation is also dramatic. Israeli forces surrounded the Al-Nasser hospital complex in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Tuesday, local residents said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday that the Al-Amal hospital, a kilometer away, had been “decommissioned” and had “completely ceased operations”.

“The forced closure of Al Amal Hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in the south, has serious consequences, putting countless lives at risk,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said, calling it “catastrophic”. .the state of the health care system in the north of the territory after more than five months of war.