Israel Kills 46 in Gaza as Pressure Mounts for Wider Ceasefire After Iran Truce
Gaza City – At least 46 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, even as calls grow for Israel to extend its ceasefire with Iran to include the war-torn Palestinian territory.
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, 21 people were killed and nearly 150 injured when Israeli forces opened fire near a US-backed aid distribution site in central Gaza. A second attack in southern Gaza claimed 25 more lives. Al-Awda Hospital confirmed receiving 19 dead and 146 wounded from the central Gaza incident.
“Every day we see the same thing — bodies and injuries in unbearable numbers,” said paramedic Ziad Farhat from Nasser Hospital. “Hospitals are overwhelmed and cannot cope with the number of wounded arriving.”
Rights groups and UN agencies criticized the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, particularly the food distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — a private group backed by the US and Israel that replaced United Nations agencies at the end of May.
A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, said: “Weaponizing food and blocking access to life-saving aid constitutes a war crime.”
Despite GHF claiming it is delivering aid “securely and effectively,” it admitted that large parts of Gaza remain inaccessible. Human rights organizations accused the group of facilitating Israeli military goals and urged it to halt operations, warning of possible complicity in war crimes. GHF has denied any responsibility for casualties near its aid points.
Calls for a broader ceasefire intensified following the end of the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X: “And now Gaza. It’s time to finish it there too. Bring back the hostages, end the war.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, remains firm on the military campaign in Gaza, stating that the war with Iran has helped advance progress in Gaza but that more time is needed.
The ongoing war, which began after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, has left a deep humanitarian crisis. That attack killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 people taken hostage, with 49 still held in Gaza—27 of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s military response has resulted in over 56,000 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry. The United Nations regards these figures as credible.
Media access to Gaza remains heavily restricted, making independent verification of these reports difficult.
