Israeli strikes kill at least 16 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

Jerusalem: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received the bodies, including the remains of a woman and three children, after strikes overnight and into Thursday. An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted the bodies.

A man held the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud as a woman next to him wept, saying: “My love, my soul.”

The Israeli offensive launched in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants or civilians. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted around 250. Around 110 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a ceasefire deal and hostage release but major gaps remain. Rights groups on Thursday expressed renewed concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza after Israel’s latest evacuation orders in parts of the overcrowded central city of Deir al-Balah. The polio virus has been circulating in the battered Palestinian enclave for the first time in 25 years, relief organization the International Rescue Committee said in a statement. It said the spread resulted from the destruction of hospitals and water infrastructure, along with overcrowded living conditions.

“The news of polio in Gaza should be an alarm bell that more infectious diseases are on the way,” Dr Jude Senkugu, the group’s emergency health coordinator in the territory, said in the statement. “Without clean water, it is nearly impossible to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, as people do not have enough to drink, leaving them with no other choice but to drink

contaminated water.”