A man is carried away after being injured in an Israeli army drone strike on a sidewalk which killed at least two people, in downtown Gaza City. AP
The bombardment continued as international warnings grew over Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, as Israel's blockade on the territory of over 2 million people is in its third month.
The U.N. and aid groups have rejected Israel’s aid distribution moves, including a plan from a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials calling itself the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Among the 23 bodies brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours were those of the family of five whose tent was struck in Gaza City’s Sabra district, Gaza's Health Ministry said.
Another Israeli strike late Friday hit a warehouse belonging to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, in the northern area of Jabaliya. Four people were killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
AP video showed fires burning in the shattered building. The warehouse was empty after being hit and raided multiple times during Israeli ground offensives against Hamas fighters over the past year, said residents, including Hamza Mohamed.
Israel's oocupation army said nine soldiers were lightly wounded Friday night by an explosive device while searching Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighbourhood. It said they were evacuated to a hospital in Israel.
Israel resumed its war on Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire. Ground troops have seized more than half the territory and have been conducting raids and searching parts of northern Gaza and the southernmost city of Rafah. Large parts of both areas have been flattened by months of Israeli brutal operations.
Under Israel's blockade, charity kitchens are virtually the only source of food left in Gaza, but dozens have shut down in recent days as food supplies run out. Aid groups say more closures are imminent. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Israel claims Hamas and other resistance groups of siphoning off aid in Gaza, though it hasn’t presented any evidence for its claims. The U.N. denies that significant diversion takes place, stressing it monitors distribution.
The 19-month-old Israeli genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 52,800 people there, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 119,000, according to the Health Ministry.
* This story was edited by ahram Omline.
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