People mourn Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. (Photo by Reuters)
Gaza City, June 28 (RHC)-- At least 72 people have been killed and 174 others wounded in fresh Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The latest casualties have brought the total death toll from Israeli strikes to 56,331, with 132,632 others injured since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on October 7, 2023.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces over the past four weeks while attempting to access humanitarian aid. At least 4,066 people have been injured near distribution sites operated by the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Hamas has condemned the U.S.-backed aid distribution system in the besieged Gaza Strip, denouncing the aid sites as “death traps” designed to enforce deliberate starvation and humiliation against the Palestinian people.
Earlier, Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited Israeli soldiers and officers as saying they had been given orders to shoot unarmed Palestinians seeking aid to disperse crowds.
‘Israel lies about Hamas aid theft'
The Government Media Office also slammed the Israeli regime for “promoting lies” about the control of aid in northern Gaza. The statement came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the minister of military affairs Israel Katz claimed in a joint statement on Wednesday that Hamas is "once again taking control of humanitarian aid entering northern Gaza and stealing it from civilians.”
“We categorically deny the false claims,” Gaza’s Government Media Office said. The office stressed that the aid convoys had been “secured” by Palestinian families and clans "without any interference from the Palestinian government or factions.”
“This was a popular stance on their part, aimed at providing crumbs of food to hundreds of thousands of starving civilians,” the statement said.
The office said Israel’s “cheap lies” were aimed at “legitimizing the continued blockade.”
Israel waged the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Israel has also imposed a complete blockade on Gaza as part of the regime’s wider plan to expel Palestinians from the besieged strip.
[ SOURCE: REUTERS and NEWS AGENCIES ]
