Israeli military attacks continue in Gaza

While the Israeli military continues its brutal assault and killings across the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli settlers, with support from the military, are intensifying attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In the past 24 hours alone, at least 78 more people have been killed in Gaza. Meanwhile, settlers have escalated their violence in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem—killing, attacking, destroying crops and land, and harassing Palestinians in an apparent effort to seize more land and resources.

According to Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera, citing Palestine’s official news agency WAFA, Israeli forces carried out multiple airstrikes, drone attacks, and bombings throughout Monday (15 July) in Gaza City, and the southern regions of Rafah, Khan Younis, and Bureij. During a ground operation, indiscriminate gunfire near a humanitarian aid center in southern Rafah killed at least five people and injured many others. The victims had been standing in line to collect food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization supported by Israel and the United States.

WAFA reports that since 27 May, at least 838 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to collect aid from such centers. More than 5,500 have been injured. However, the UN Human Rights Office records that at least 875 people have been killed in the last six weeks alone—674 near GHF centers and 201 while en route to receive aid.

According to Arab News, 52 of the 73 others killed on Monday were residents of central and southern Gaza.

Gaza’s Health Ministry stated that nine people were killed and many more wounded in an airstrike on a displaced persons camp in Khan Younis. Four more were killed in a strike on a commercial building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Israeli forces have also intensified attacks in northern Gaza and Gaza City. Al Jazeera’s local correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that heavy airstrikes in the Tuffah and Shujaiya neighborhoods have destroyed numerous homes. Within Gaza City, a tank was ambushed with a rocket strike followed by small arms fire, resulting in casualties among Israeli soldiers. Israeli military and media later confirmed that three soldiers were killed in the incident.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, since the war began on 7 October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed at least 58,386 people and injured 139,077 in Gaza over the past 21 months. Women and children make up 56% of the total casualties. More than 20,000 children have been killed by Israeli forces during this period.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office reports a surge in settler and security forces' violence against Palestinians in recent weeks in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. On Monday morning, settlers set fire to Palestinian-owned lands and vehicles in Burqa village near Bethlehem. Around the same time, settlers uprooted hundreds of olive trees in the southeastern village of Al-Minya, and Israeli authorities demolished a four-story residential building.

Zayed Kawazba, head of the Al-Minya village council, told WAFA that a group of settlers attacked the village center of Al-Qarne, set up four tents, and uprooted around 1,500 olive trees belonging to the Al-Motawwar and Jabarin families.

More than three million Palestinians live under strict Israeli military rule in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority governs in small, disconnected enclaves separated by numerous Israeli checkpoints. Israel has so far established more than 100 illegal settlements across the West Bank, where approximately half a million Israeli settlers reside on Palestinian land in violation of international law.