Gaza reels from deadly strikes, famine, and disease as global outrage grows

GAZA, Palestine (MNTV) —Israel’s escalating bombardment killed nearly 100 Palestinians in just 24 hours, while famine and disease claimed more lives in the besieged enclave. The crisis is drawing mounting global condemnation, with calls for an urgent ceasefire and protection of civilians.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 98 Palestinians were killed and 404 others wounded in Israeli attacks over the past day. Since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago, it said, at least 63,557 people have been killed and more than 160,660 injured.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that at least 34 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Monday alone, including 19 in Gaza City and seven people who were seeking aid.

Among the victims was Louay Estita, 46, the general director of Gaza Sports Club, the territory’s oldest sporting institution. Estita was killed late Sunday in an Israeli airstrike that struck a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid near the Zakim crossing in northern Gaza. His club confirmed the death in a statement Monday, while local media described the strike as yet another blow to Gaza’s already battered civic and cultural life.

Air raids continued throughout Gaza City on Monday, leaving a trail of civilian casualties. In the Al-Nafaq area and the Al-Shati refugee camp, eight Palestinians were killed when homes were bombed. A pregnant woman and two children were among the dead, according to medical sources who spoke to Anadolu news agency.

Ten more people died in strikes on Al-Nafaq Street and the Sheikh Ridwan neighborhood, while a Palestinian couple and their son were killed when their residential building near the Al-Sahaba Medical Complex was hit. In eastern Zeitoun, two more civilians lost their lives and many others were wounded.

Witnesses reported that Israeli forces also continued a campaign of demolitions in Zeitoun, detonating booby-trapped robots and old military vehicles planted between buildings. Residents described scenes of chaos, with families forced to abandon homes under the threat of both bombardment and engineered explosions.

The situation in Gaza City has deteriorated further after Israel declared the area a “dangerous combat zone” on Friday. Home to nearly a million people, the city has seen thousands displaced from northeastern districts to western neighborhoods under relentless fire. Families said they were carrying only what they could as they fled, with little access to food, clean water, or shelter.

The mounting civilian death toll and deepening humanitarian crisis are fueling international concern. Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), meeting in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Monday, expressed “deep concern” at the escalation and “catastrophic” situation in Gaza.

In a joint statement at their 25th summit, the SCO heads of state and government condemned “actions that have led to numerous casualties among the civilian population.” They called for a “comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as soon as possible,” and demanded safe passage for humanitarian aid. The group urged increased efforts to secure peace, stability, and security for residents of the region.

Journalists under fire

At the same time, more than 250 media outlets from around 50 countries launched a coordinated campaign denouncing Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza. The initiative, organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the NGO Avaaz, saw newspapers and websites display stark black banners on their front pages.

Dailies including L’Humanité in France, Público in Portugal, and La Libre in Belgium published warnings that “at the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, soon there will be no one left to inform you.”

The campaign followed last week’s killing of five journalists in Israeli strikes at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. RSF said more than 210 journalists have been killed since Israel began its offensive, and confirmed that it has filed four war crimes complaints with the International Criminal Court over attacks on reporters.

“These organisations and newsrooms denounce the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli army against Palestinian reporters with total impunity, call for their protection and urgent evacuation, and demand independent access for the international press to the Palestinian enclave,” RSF said in a statement.

Since the war began, foreign journalists have not been allowed to work freely inside Gaza. Only a few carefully selected outlets have been embedded with Israeli forces, subject to strict military censorship.

While bombs continue to fall, hunger is also claiming lives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said nine more Palestinians, including three children, died in the past 24 hours from Israeli-imposed starvation. The famine-linked death toll now stands at 348, including at least 127 children.

The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has confirmed famine in northern Gaza and warned it is likely to spread to central and southern areas, including Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, by the end of September.

According to the report, more than half a million people are facing starvation, while another 1.07 million are enduring emergency levels of acute food insecurity. The situation, experts said, is the direct result of nearly two years of conflict and the near-total blockade on aid.

Since March, Israel has kept Gaza’s border crossings closed, blocking thousands of trucks filled with humanitarian supplies. Out of the 21,000 trucks needed last month, only 3,188 were allowed to enter.

International efforts to break the blockade have faced obstacles. An aid flotilla carrying food and activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham, was forced to delay its departure from Barcelona due to stormy weather but pledged to resume its voyage to Gaza.

Disease outbreak among children

The collapse of Gaza’s health system is compounding the crisis. Doctors are reporting a severe flu outbreak, particularly among children weakened by hunger and displacement.

Health officials said hospitals in Khan Younis are overwhelmed, with many children suffering from bronchitis and flu complications forced to lie on the floor due to overcrowding.

Doctors warn that malnutrition has left children unable to fight infections, while poor sanitation, unsafe water, and mass displacement have accelerated the spread of the virus. Officials noted that the outbreak is hitting children, the elderly, and chronically ill the hardest.

Hospitals themselves are operating with critically low staff and supplies. Many have been reduced to providing only the most basic care as Israel continues to ban dozens of essential medicines and restrict humanitarian deliveries.

“This is a dangerous mix of hunger, disease, and a collapsed health system,” one doctor said, warning of further preventable deaths if aid does not reach the territory soon.

As the war grinds on, Gaza’s population faces what aid groups describe as one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century. Strikes kill families in their homes, hunger takes children in silence, and disease spreads unchecked through overcrowded shelters and makeshift camps.

International voices are growing louder, with regional blocs, rights groups, and press freedom organizations demanding action. Yet on the ground in Gaza, residents say their reality is defined by relentless airstrikes, empty shelves, and hospitals unable to treat the sick.

For many, survival depends on finding food, medicine, or simply a safe place to sleep — all while waiting to see if the outside world can bring an end to their suffering.