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NUSEIRAT: Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people across Gaza on Thursday, the territory’s civil defense agency and hospitals said, including an employee of the French charity Doctors Without Borders.
The civil defense agency, a rescue force which operates under Hamas authority, said the deaths were caused “by continuous Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip since dawn,” specifying that 10 people, including at least one child, were killed in Gaza City.
Several hospitals confirmed to AFP that they had received 10 bodies in Gaza City, 14 in central Gaza, and 28 in the territory’s south.
They reported that some were killed in air strikes, others by drone fire and shootings.
Asked for comment, the Israeli army said it was looking into the matter.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis reported nearly 30 deaths, including 14 killed by “Israeli gunfire” targeting Palestinians waiting for food distribution in the Al-Tina and Morag areas.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah said it had received nine bodies after several strikes on nearby areas.
An AFP photographer saw several corpses, some wrapped in white shrouds, in the hospital morgue as relatives mourned nearby.
Among the dead was 42-year-old Omar Al-Hayek, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff member.
He was killed in a strike on a group of civilians in central Deir Al-Balah, according to the hospital and his family.
“We received word that some of our staff had been injured and taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital,” said Karin Huster, head of the MSF medical team in Gaza.
“When we arrived, we discovered that one of our colleagues had been killed, and four others wounded,” she told AFP.
“The consequences will be tragic for their families and for our team. Enough killings — whether targeted or not, this is unacceptable.”
The nearly two-year war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign since then has killed 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.

LONDON: Jordan said on Thursday it holds Israel responsible for the safety of Jordanian citizens traveling with the Global Sumud Flotilla who were detained overnight when the Israeli navy intercepted the humanitarian mission to Gaza before it reached the Palestinian territory.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs cautioned against any action that might expose Jordanians to harm.

The Israeli navy intercepted about 39 boats that were part of the flotilla 70 nautical miles from Gaza. They were carrying food and other aid supplies in an attempt to break a long-standing Israeli blockade on the Palestinian coastal territory. Dozens of activists on board the vessels were detained, including citizens of Kuwait, France, Malaysia and Sweden.

Fuad Majali, a spokesperson for Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, said it was “ready to assist in the evacuation of citizens from friendly countries upon request.” The ministry is in direct contact with Jordanian citizens detained in Israel to “ensure their safety, uphold their rights and facilitate their return to Jordan,” he added.

Jordan described the interception of the flotilla in international waters by Israeli forces on Wednesday night as “a blatant violation of international law, a threat to freedom of navigation and a serious danger to civilians’ lives.”

Majali called for all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza to be lifted, so that the severe humanitarian crisis caused by the Israeli aggression in the territory can be addressed, The Jordan News Agency reported.