Israeli airstrikes battered Gaza through the night and into Tuesday, killing at least 60 people, including civilians sheltering in a school and a family home, according to Palestinian health officials, as Israel escalated its genocidal war amid growing global outrage.
Israel launched another major offensive in the territory in recent days, saying it aims to return dozens of hostages held by Hamas and destroy the Palestinian resistance group.
More than 300 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the latest onslaught. Israel says it aims to seize Gaza and hold on to the territory, displace hundreds of thousands of people and secure aid distribution.
As the new offensive ramps up, Israel agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into the war-ravaged territory after a 2 1/2 month blockade that prevented the entry of food, medicine and fuel, among other goods. The blockade prompted warnings from food experts of a risk of famine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he made the decision to let in minimal aid after pressure from allies, who he said couldn’t support Israel so long as “images of hunger” were coming out of Gaza.
Criticism of Israel’s conduct intensified Monday when allies Canada, France and the United Kingdom threatened “concrete actions” against the country, including sanctions and called on Israel to stop its “egregious” new military actions in Gaza.
Netanyahu rejected the criticism, claiming it was “a huge prize” for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion that would invite more such violence.
So far, just a handful of trucks have been sent into Gaza, which U.N. agencies say is nowhere near enough to meet the massive need. Some 600 trucks a day had entered during a cease-fire earlier this year.
Criticism against Israel’s conduct in Gaza also came from inside the country, with a leader of Israel’s center-left politics saying on Tuesday that Israel was becoming an “outcast among nations” because of the government’s approach to the war.
“A sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population,” Yair Golan, a retired general and leader of the opposition, Democrats party, told Reshet Bet radio.
His comments were a rare criticism from within Israel of its wartime conduct in Gaza. Many Israelis have criticized Netanyahu throughout the war, but that has been mostly limited to what opponents argue are his political motives to continue the war. Criticism like Golan’s, over the war’s toll on Palestinian civilians, has been almost unheard.
Netanyahu swiftly slammed Golan’s remarks, calling them “wild incitement” against Israeli soldiers and accusing Golan of echoing “disgraceful antisemitic blood libels” against the country.
Golan, who donned his uniform during Hamas’ 2023 attack to join the fight against the Palestinian resistance groups, previously sparked an uproar when as deputy military chief of staff in 2016, he likened the atmosphere in Israel to that of Nazi-era Germany.
Over recent days, strikes have pounded areas across Gaza and Israel has issued evacuation orders for Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, which endured a previous offensive that left vast destruction.
In the latest strikes, two in northern Gaza hit a family home and a school-turned-shelter, killing at least 22 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
A strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 13 people and another in the nearby built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed 15, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Two strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 10 people, according to Nasser Hospital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which claims it only targets armed groups and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the group operates in densely populated areas.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursion that caused around 1,200 deaths and captured 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s genocidal war, in comparison, has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza health authorities.
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