News Center- At least 24,285 Palestinians, including 10,300 children and 7,100 women, have been killed and 61,154 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. Israel keeps targeting hospitals, schools, houses and the shelters of displaced Palestinians in Gaza.

 Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted several areas in the Gaza Strip in the morning and last night, killing dozens of Palestinians. Israeli airstrikes targeted homes in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza, killing at least 25 and injuring dozens; the Israeli forces also killed at least seven Palestinians near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, WAFA said.

Body of 4-year-old girl handed over

The Israeli forces opened fire on two vehicles as they passed through the Beit Iksa checkpoint on January 7, killing three Palestinians, including a 4-year-old girl identified as Ruqaya Abu Dahouk. The Red Crescent Society (RCS) has announced that the Israeli authorities handed over the body of Ruqaya Abu Dahouk on Tuesday evening.

‘Israel uses food as a weapon’

Over one hundred days into the war, Israel has been destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponized food, UN human rights experts said in a statement on January 16.

“Currently every single person in Gaza is hungry, a quarter of the population are starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent. Pregnant women are not receiving adequate nutrition and healthcare, putting their lives at risk. In addition all children under five – 335,000 – are at high risk of severe malnutrition as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase, a whole generation is now in danger of suffering from stunting,” said the experts.

‘Nowhere is safe in Gaza’

“Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Since 9 October, Israel declared and imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies, this against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid,” the statement said.

“It is unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly. Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”