Israeli forces killed at least 35 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday as they engaged Hamas-led fighters, according to Palestinian sources, although brief lulls in the fighting allowed medics to administer polio vaccinations to children for the third day.
Four women were killed in the southern city of Rafah, while eight people were slain near a hospital in northern Gaza City, according to the Palestinian civil emergency agency.
The ongoing conflict has taken a severe toll on civilian infrastructure, with reports of widespread damage to residential areas, schools, and healthcare facilities. International humanitarian organizations have expressed grave concern over the deteriorating conditions faced by Gaza's population, particularly women and children. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported critical shortages of essential supplies, including food, clean water, and medical resources, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Later on Tuesday, nine Palestinians were killed by an Israeli bombardment inside a house near Omar Al-Mokhtar Street in Gaza City, according to doctors. Another strike occurred at a college in Sheikh Radwan, a northern suburb of the city. The Israeli military said the strike was directed at Hamas gunmen operating from a command center inside the former Nama College. Other others were killed in different air attacks across the region, medics added.
The Israeli military said it killed eight Palestinian gunmen, including a senior Hamas commander involved in the October 7 assaults in Israel, at a command center near Gaza City's Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
According to a statement, Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia led a slaughter of civilians carried out by Hamas terrorists in Israel's Netiv HaAsara village near the Gaza border. Hamas gave no answer.
The escalating violence has drawn international attention, with diplomatic efforts intensifying to broker a ceasefire. Several countries, including Egypt and Qatar, have been actively involved in mediating talks between Israel and Hamas. However, progress has been slow, with both sides maintaining firm positions on key issues. The international community continues to call for an immediate de-escalation and the protection of civilian lives, emphasizing the need for a sustainable political solution to the long-standing conflict.
The armed factions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were engaging Israeli soldiers in Gaza City's Zeitoun area, as well as Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. Nonetheless, the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed it was ahead of schedule for polio vaccines in Gaza on Tuesday, the third day of a mass campaign, and had immunized around a quarter of children under the age of 10.
The program, prompted by the finding of the first polio case in a Gazan baby last month, is based on daily eight-hour pauses in combat between Israel and Hamas in specified regions of the beleaguered enclave.
Diplomatic efforts to negotiate a durable peace, release foreign and Israeli prisoners in Gaza, and repatriate many Palestinians imprisoned by Israel have stagnated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israeli troops would remain in the Philadelphi corridor on Gaza's southern border, one of the major sticking points in striking an agreement to cease the war and return detainees.
Hamas, which seeks an agreement to halt the war and remove Israeli forces from the whole Gaza Strip, claims that such a requirement, among others, would prohibit a deal. According to Netanyahu, the war can only cease after Hamas is annihilated.
The prolonged conflict has had far-reaching economic consequences for both Israel and Gaza. Israel's economy has been strained by the mobilization of reservists and the diversion of resources to military operations. In Gaza, the already fragile economic infrastructure has been severely damaged, with many businesses and industries grinding to a halt. The World Bank has warned of the long-term economic impact on the region, emphasizing the need for substantial reconstruction efforts and international support to rebuild Gaza's economy once hostilities cease.
The United Nations, in partnership with local health authorities, launched the third day of a difficult effort to vaccinate around 640,000 children in Gaza against polio.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised pauses in combat to allow vaccines as a rare glimmer of hope and humanity in the midst of suffering, according to his spokesman on Tuesday. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated that if parties can protect children from a fatal illness, they must also protect innocents from the horrors of war.
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told reporters in Geneva that the organization has vaccinated more than 161,000 children under the age of ten in the central region in the first two days of the campaign, compared to a projected 150,000. He stated that everything has been going fine thus far. So far, these humanitarian pauses have been effective. We still have ten days to go. He stated that some youngsters in southern Gaza were believed to be outside the agreed-upon halt zone, and that efforts were ongoing to reach them.
According to Palestinians, the collapse of the health system and the demolition of most Gaza facilities are major contributors to the resurgence of polio. Israel accuses Hamas of utilizing hospitals for military objectives, a claim the Islamist group denies.
The conflict has also had a significant impact on mental health, particularly among children in Gaza. Psychologists and aid workers have reported a sharp increase in cases of trauma, anxiety, and depression among the population. The constant exposure to violence, loss of loved ones, and disruption of daily life have created a generation of children facing severe psychological challenges. Mental health experts warn of the long-term consequences of prolonged conflict on the psychological well-being of Gaza's youth, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive mental health support and interventions.
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas' assault in southern Israel on October 7 murdered 1,200 people and took more than 250 captives, sparking the war in Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, about 40,800 Palestinians have been killed since then.
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