At least 137 Gazans killed in Israeli attacks since ceasefire

GAZA CITY (Palestine): At least 137 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza in January, local authorities said on Tuesday, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.

In a statement, Salama Marouf, the head of Gaza's government media office, accused Israel of deliberately intensifying its attacks on Palestinians over the past 10 days in violation of the ceasefire deal.

"The latest of these crimes was an Israeli airstrike targeting a group of citizens in central Gaza, killing five, including two brothers, raising the total number of martyrs since the ceasefire began to 137," Marouf said.

According to witnesses, an Israeli drone struck a group of Palestinians near a destroyed house in the Netzarim area, close to Gaza City's southeastern border, killing five people.

Meanwhile, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor put the death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza since the ceasefire at 145 people.

According to the Geneva-based group, Israel has been killing an average of seven Palestinians every two days, with 605 others injured.

Since the agreement went into force, "Israel has used the blockade and starvation as tools of slow-kill tactics in the genocide of Gaza's population," the group said in a statement.

The monitor's field team documented continued Israeli attacks, including "sniper fire, drone strikes, and quadcopter attacks on Palestinian civilians, particularly those attempting to check on their homes near the buffer zone Israel imposed along Gaza's northern and eastern borders," the statement said.

The rights group said Rafah in southern Gaza has been one of the most targeted areas since the ceasefire.

It condemned "systematic Israeli attacks," stating that they have persisted "without military justification despite the cessation of hostilities," as stipulated in the agreement.

The monitor accused Israel of escalating "genocidal policies" by imposing increasingly deadly living conditions that lead to systematic and slow killings through a total blockade preventing the entry of essential supplies and humanitarian aid.

It warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe due to the ongoing siege, warning that "markets are running out of goods and many aid centres and charity kitchens have shut down since border crossings were closed on March 2."

These measures "would further worsen civilian suffering and push Palestinians toward inevitable famine," the group said.

It warned of the dangers of depriving Palestinians, particularly children, of adequate nutrition, which could result in severe malnutrition, irreversible health damage, and permanent physical and cognitive disabilities.

The monitor accused Israel of not only using humanitarian aid as a bargaining chip for political and military gains but also of deliberately implementing a systematic starvation policy aimed at creating deadly living conditions that make Gaza uninhabitable.

The rights group urged relevant states and entities to take immediate legal and diplomatic action to halt the genocide in Gaza, calling for decisive measures to force Israel to fully lift the blockade and prevent further slow killing tactics and forced displacement.

More than 48,500 people have been killed, mostly women and children, in a brutal Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. The onslaught was paused under the ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which took hold in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its war on the enclave.

-- BERNAMA

Dapatkan berita terkini di sini