Day 154: 30,800 martyrs, over 72,000 wounded; 72% children and women
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The Israeli occupation commits eight massacres in the past 24 hours across the Strip, killing 78 Palestinians and wounding 104.
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Palestinians mourn martyrs killed by Israeli occupation forces in what became known as the Flour Massacre, which was committed against Palestinians waiting to receive flour aid incident in Gaza City on February 29, 2024 (AFP)
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported on Friday that 30,878 Palestinians have been killed and 72,402 wounded by the Israeli occupation as the genocide enters its 154th day.
The ministry pointed out that 72% of the martyrs are children and women, with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA revealing that, on average, 63 women are killed in Gaza every day.
The ministry stated that "Israel" has carried out eight massacres, resulting in the deaths of 78 Palestinians and the injury of 104 in the past 24 hours. It further noted that numerous Palestinians are still trapped under the rubble, with the Israeli military obstructing medical and civil defense teams from accessing bombed sites to rescue survivors or retrieve bodies buried beneath the debris.
Read more: War on Gaza orphaned 17,000 children, UNRWA finds
The spokesperson of the ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, stated on Thursday that 20 Palestinians in Gaza have been martyred so far as a result of "Israel's" tactic of deliberate starvation.
'Worst I have ever seen'
A UN expert said earlier that the Israeli occupation was destroying Gaza's food system as part of a larger "starvation campaign," with aid authorities warning of a potential famine.
In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, asserted that the organization was "doing nothing" as "unbearable" images surfaced from Gaza.
Fakhri told the council that "Israel has mounted a starvation campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza," adding that this included fishermen, whose numbers indicated that around 80% of the Strip's fishing sector has been damaged since October 7.
He further called on member nations to consider sanctions against "Israel" and ending military supplies that are being used in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
"This is on your watch. Please turn your words into action," he said.
Read more: CfMM report unveils bias in Western coverage of Gaza genocide
Veteran relief worker Jean-Pierre Delomier said he has seen it all when it comes to reacting to conflicts and disasters throughout the world over the years, but the Gaza war is by far "the worst".
The United States, Jordan, Egypt, France, and the UAE had announced earlier carrying out several "airdrops" to deliver aid to Gaza. However, the entire operation was deemed a worthless PR stunt as the dropped food supplies did not amount to a fraction needed and due to Washington's ability to force Israelis into opening land routes to deliver necessary aid - but chose not.
After an eight-day expedition to the south of the besieged Strip, Delomier, the deputy director of Handicap International - Humanity & Inclusion, said he saw "kilometers of trucks queueing on four lanes, all waiting to get into Gaza," stressing that while planes drop "a few pallets" there are kilometers of pallets "just behind".
What was taking place in Gaza was the "worst I have ever seen," he said, and that what he saw in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s was "incomparable" to what he saw in the Strip; a "mousetrap, with only a trickle of aid."
