The Health Ministry in the Palestinian territory said at least 26,637 people have been killed in Gaza from Israeli strikes.
The latest toll includes 215 deaths over the past 24 hours, while 65,387 people have been injured since October 7.
The high number of casualties comes days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza.
In the 48 hours after interim rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel continues to kill as many Palestinians in Gaza as it did before the verdicts, a human rights group and Al Jazeera reports.
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Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reports the Israeli army killed at least 373 Palestinians – including 345 civilians – and wounded 643 others in the two days after the rulings on alleged genocidal acts.
“Israel has also ramped up its efforts to starve [Palestinians] as well as forcibly displace them from their homes in the Strip,” the group said.
“In defiance of the ruling of the world’s highest court and in violation of its own international obligations, including to international law and principles, Israel persists in committing egregious violations that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide against the Palestinian people.”
In another development, Doctors without Borders says displaced women in Gaza are living and giving birth in deplorable conditions, including in public buildings and tents.
“Those who manage to deliver in a hospital often return to their makeshift shelters hours after undergoing a Caesarean (section),” MSF said.
Meanwhile, UNICEF said the children of Gaza are in direct danger from Israeli bombs but also threatened by disease as the healthcare sector in the besieged enclave collapses.
UNICEF reported that more than 16,000 children are at risk of missing routine vaccinations, which exposes them to illnesses such as measles, pneumonia, and polio.
“Every day, we receive between 200 and 250 children in urgent need of vaccination, a significant number given the severe shortage we face in these challenging conditions,” says Samaheer, a nurse working in the Strip.
On Sunday, Save the Children said Israel’s war on Gaza is killing children at “rates unparalleled in recent crises”.
Its head told Al Jazeera that Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave has also left many children critically injured and facing lifelong disabilities.
According to her the war was leaving children in Gaza “starved and robbed of any sense of safety and security”.
In a study they conducted in 2022, Save the Children found that three out of five children in Gaza had feelings and thoughts of self-harm.
