Deadly Israeli bombing in Gaza city kills 61

At least 61 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in a single day, including 19 who died while seeking humanitarian aid.

Additionally, four more people, two of them children, lost their lives due to hunger and malnutrition, Al Jazeera reported Thursday night (August 28).

According to the report, Israeli attacks since early Thursday morning killed at least 61 people. Medical sources confirmed that 19 of them were civilians searching for aid. Residents said the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City faced heavy shelling.

Israeli forces are preparing to capture Gaza City, the largest urban center in the territory. But the international community fears this operation could cause massive casualties and force nearly one million displaced Palestinians to flee again.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the plan, calling it “a new and horrifying stage of the war.” He warned that such an operation would bring “terrible consequences,” as hundreds of thousands of exhausted and traumatized civilians would again be forced from their homes, pushing families into deeper suffering. He added that the dire situation was the result of deliberate decisions against humanity.

Residents said many families were fleeing toward the coast as Israeli forces carried out intense bombing in Shujaiya, Zeitoun, and Sabra. According to Gaza’s Civil Defense, in southern Zeitoun alone, more than 1,500 houses were destroyed, leaving no buildings standing.