The dead include 15 people who were killed by overnight Israeli strikes, among them women and children, some of whom were sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff.

At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them in a tent in the Mwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living, a hospital worker said. Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone.

Four other people were killed in separate strikes in Rafah city, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy large “security zones” inside the strip. For six weeks, Israel has also blockaded Gaza, barring the entry of food and other goods.

This week, aid groups raised alarm, saying that thousands of children have become malnourished, and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new U.S. ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza's blockade so medicines and other aid can enter the strip.

“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said.

In his first appearance as ambassador on Friday, Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by US President Donald Trump. Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

Israel’s war on Gaza has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. The war has displaced around 90% of the population, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

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