Gaza Death Toll Rises As Israeli Strikes Kill 81 in 24 Hours

Israeli forces continue to strike UN-run facilities sheltering civilians in Gaza, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, according to health officials and the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.

UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, says 70 percent of its schools in Gaza have been bombed during the war, and that the vast majority of them, 95 percent, were being used as displacement shelters at the time they were attacked.

Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini has again called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, stating that Israeli attacks on schools have become “an almost daily occurrence.”

“At least eight schools hit in the last 10 days, including six UNRWA schools,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “The war robbed the girls and boys in Gaza of their childhood and education. Schools must never be used for fighting or military purposes by any party to the conflict. Schools are not a target.”

UNRWA is seen as a lifeline for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip as it provides humanitarian support to millions of people.

However, Israeli attacks and the blocking of crossings into the enclave have impeded aid distribution to 2.3 million people, most of whom are displaced, worsening the humanitarian crisis.

Israeli attacks have killed 500 health workers in Gaza since October, including several specialized doctors, AP news agency reports.

The specialist doctors killed include a plastic surgeon specializing in wound care, a reconstructive surgeon, an obstetrician/gynaecologist, an orthopedic surgeon, a fertility doctor, and the only liver transplant doctor in Gaza.

Hassan Hamdan, a plastic surgeon who specialized in wound reconstruction, was killed along with 12 members of his family earlier this month after coming out of retirement to treat victims of the war.

His son, Osama Hamdan, an orthopedic surgeon, was on duty in the emergency room at Nasser Hospital when he received the call. His wife and two sons – aged three and five – were among those killed.

“I was only able to collect some body parts of my kids and their mother because of how huge the explosion was,” Hamdan said.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said last week that the agency is also being targeted.

Since October 7, 189 UNRWA installations have been damaged and only 10 of 26 UNRWA health centres in Gaza are currently operational.

There have been 458 incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them, including at least 74 incidents of military use or interference at UNRWA premises. As of July 14, Israeli forces had killed 197 UNRWA staff.

Two-thirds of UN facilities across the Strip have been either severely damaged or completely destroyed since the beginning of the war, including evacuation centres.

In the past 10 days, at least six schools have been targeted by Israeli air attacks, killing close to 100 people. Just today, 23 people were killed in a single attack in addition to 70-plus critically injured in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

All of this is increasing and exacerbating the already difficult living conditions and the problems that people are experiencing in Gaza.

On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided that Palestinians in Gaza had the “plausible” right to be protected from genocide and ordered Israel to refrain from acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention.

At the time, the casualties toll in Gaza stood at 26,083 people killed with more than 64,400 people wounded.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed another 12,630 people and wounded more than 24,600 others, meaning more than 2,500 Palestinians were killed every month over the past five months.

Israeli forces have repeatedly struck “safe zones” where Palestinians were instructed to evacuate for their safety.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reports at least 38,794 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Israel launched its war on October 7.

Another 89,364 people have been wounded in more than nine months of attacks, it added.