Israeli attacks have killed at least 75 Palestinians across Gaza, medical sources have told Al Jazeera, including at least 16 in a strike on Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, which the Civil Defence described as a “full-fledged massacre”.
Dozens were also wounded in that Israeli attack on Saturday.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said of the attack in Gaza City: “Sources are saying there are dozens of Palestinians still trapped under the rubble. The Civil Defence teams are trying to retrieve bodies and rescue as many Palestinians as possible.”
The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee announced the latest forced evacuation orders to neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, including northwest of Gaza City and Jabalia.
Forces will “attack each zone used to launch rockets,” calling on residents to “immediately” move to the southern areas of the enclave, Adraee wrote on X Saturday.
In the south of the besieged enclave, the Palestinian Red Crescent said al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis was “no longer accessible” after Israeli forces designated the surrounding area a “dangerous combat zone” and ordered evacuations.
“There are many patients and medical staff in the hospital,” the group said in a statement, urging international organisations to intervene, provide protection for medical sites, and open safe corridors for aid and medical supplies.
Among those killed in Israeli attacks today were eight people in a shooting incident near an aid distribution site west of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Palestinians in Gaza have gathered at al-Alam roundabout near Rafah almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid, at a centre about 1km (0.6 miles) away, operated by the shadowy US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire near these GFH sites since they were introduced.
Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told the AFP news agency that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.
“As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The GHF had said on Friday that its aid centres would remain closed until further notice due to security concerns, just days after several deadly incidents near its aid hubs.
“Operations at our distribution points have been paused until further notice,” a spokesperson for the GHF said on Friday, despite warnings from humanitarian agencies that the territory is on the brink of famine.
Israel last month partially lifted a total blockade on humanitarian supplies entering Gaza that had been in effect since March 2, but rights groups and the United Nations have warned that only a trickle of aid has been allowed into the territory.
The UN, which has refused to cooperate with the GHF over neutrality concerns, has warned that Gaza’s entire population of more than two million people was at risk of starvation.
In Israel, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military had recovered the remains of Thai national Nattapong Pinta from Rafah, southern Gaza.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was seized during the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Israeli officials said he had been held by the Mujahideen Brigades, a Palestinian armed group.
His remains were found alongside those of two Israeli American captives retrieved earlier in the week. Pinta’s family in Thailand has been notified.
