At least 84 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Thursday.
About 50 people were killed in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza by strikes carried out by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Another 10 deaths were reported in the southern town of Khan Younis.
The shelling took place while an Israeli delegation was in the Qatari capital Doha to continue indirect talks.
On the night of March 18, the IDF resumed strikes on the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained the attacks by Hamas’ refusal to accept the American plan to extend the ceasefire and release hostages.
On May 12, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that around 500,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were suffering from extreme food shortages as a result of the suspension of humanitarian aid and the blockade by the IDF. Fifty-seven children have died of starvation since March 2.
On May 14, the Israeli government had agreed to resume humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. Operations will begin before the end of the month.
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis did not remain indifferent and wrote about this on X:
“It never ends. Israel is determined to kill, kill, kill. Meanwhile, Israel lies, lies, lies. And the West? The West looks elsewhere, anywhere, everywhere but at the scene of the war crime of the century.”
Protests held in the West Bank on Nakba Day
Meanwhile, protests were held in the occupied West Bank on the 77th anniversary of Nakba Day.
Demonstrations took place in various cities, towns and Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank. The largest protest was organised in the city of Ramallah. Participants demanded that Palestinians be granted the right to return to their homeland and that Israeli forces cease their attacks.
Representatives of the Palestinian Authority laid flowers at the grave of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. At 12:30 p.m. local time, a siren sounded for 77 seconds in honour of the 77th anniversary of the Nakba.
Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe) is commemorated by Palestinian Arabs on 15 May, the day after Israel declared independence on historic Palestinian lands in 1948. This day marked the beginning of a series of disasters for the Palestinians that continued for many decades.
After Nakba Day, Israeli forces expelled about 1 million Palestinians from their homeland. 675 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed, and thousands of Palestinians were killed. As a result of the exodus that followed Nakba, 80 per cent of Palestinians now live as refugees in various countries around the world.
