Gaza death toll rises to 42,409, WHO asks Israel to facilitate entry into northern Gaza Strip

On the 376th day of the aggression, Israel continues its raids on the Gaza Strip, amid clashes between Palestinian resistance factions and the occupation forces on several fronts, while the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on Israel to allow the organization and its partners to deliver humanitarian aid to the northern Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera quoted medical sources as saying that 17 martyrs were killed in Israeli raids on various areas in the Gaza Strip since dawn on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced this Wednesday afternoon that the occupation forces committed 6 massacres against families in the Strip during the past 24 hours, killing 65 martyrs and wounding 140.

This brings the number of victims of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip to 42,409 martyrs and 99,153 wounded since October 7, 2023.

Humanitarian situation

In this context, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed in the organization's weekly press conference today, Wednesday, that the increase in violence in northern Gaza in light of the Israeli attacks is hindering the operations of humanitarian aid missions in delivering food and medical supplies.

He stated that during the first half of October, only one of the 54 UN missions assigned to northern Gaza completed its work successfully, while the other missions were rejected, cancelled or obstructed.

“We ask Israel to allow WHO and its partners access to northern Gaza so that we can reach those who urgently need assistance,” he said.

Ghebreyesus pointed to the continued attacks on health services in Gaza, stressing that Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah was attacked on October 14, and that this attack is the eighth since last March.

“Under international humanitarian law, all actors have a responsibility to protect health services and ensure they are not attacked,” he added.

For his part, Rick Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said that about 500,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

Peppercorn explained that animal husbandry activities in Gaza were affected by 60 percent.

He continued: "70 percent of the cultivated lands and 33 percent of the agricultural greenhouses were damaged. In fact, these places are no longer usable."

Peeperkorn also confirmed that the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed since May 6, which constitutes an obstacle for 12,000 people in Gaza who need medical evacuation.

For its part, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs warned that the situation in northern Gaza is "catastrophic", as only 3 hospitals are operating, at a time when Israel is intensifying its military operations.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said yesterday that the escalation in the north "severely undermines people's ability to access the means to survive."

Dujarric added that UN health partners reported that the three hospitals "are suffering from severe shortages of fuel, blood, trauma kits and medicines."

In the field

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that its fighters west of Jabalia al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip, targeted a D-9 military bulldozer in the Al-Qassasib neighborhood. They also blew up a building that had been booby-trapped in advance against an Israeli infantry force, in addition to detonating an anti-personnel bomb against the rescue force as soon as it advanced to the location, killing and wounding all of them.

In the north of Gaza City, Al-Qassam announced targeting the occupation forces that had penetrated the vicinity of Al-Nawras Resort with mortar shells.

In the southern Gaza Strip, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that it had targeted an Israeli military D-9 bulldozer with a “Yassin 105” shell in the Al-Rayyan area, east of Rafah city.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - announced that its fighters in the center of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the Al-Qassam Brigades, had set up a pre-prepared ambush for 3 Merkava tanks using Shawaaz bombs, "tandem" shells, and "RPG" anti-tank missiles, in the Al-Qassasib neighborhood.

Occupation losses

In contrast, the Israeli army said that 4,895 officers and soldiers were injured since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, 727 of whom were seriously injured.

The army added that 270 soldiers are receiving treatment in hospitals, including 32 seriously wounded. Israeli army data showed that 14 soldiers were injured in the past 24 hours.

Regarding the death toll, the data showed that 740 soldiers were killed since the beginning of the war of extermination, including 353 in ground battles.

According to observers, Israel is concealing the human and material losses resulting from the war of extermination it is waging on the Gaza Strip and its aggression against Lebanon, and it is preventing filming and the circulation of photos and video clips, and it is warning against providing any information to the media in this regard, except through media outlets that are subject to its strict supervision.

Source: Yemen Youth Net + Al Jazeera + Anadolu Agency