Latest update June 25th, 2026 12:41 AM
Israeli attacks kill 78; Hamas says considering ceasefire proposal
(AL-JAZEERA) Israeli forces have killed at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza as they target aid seekers and displaced people sheltering in tents.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says there is “hope and anticipation” for a ceasefire deal, calling it “desperately needed and long overdue”.
“People in Gaza are exhausted after nearly 660 days of war, displacement, bombing and siege,” he said in a post on X. “A deal is paramount.”
Lazzarini stressed that the starvation of the Palestinian people must end, and the flow of humanitarian aid must resume “uninterrupted and safely under UN mechanisms, including UNRWA”.
A boy at the site of an Israeli attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, in Khan Younis [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
The Palestine branch of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which promotes reproductive and maternal health, has said pregnant women in Gaza face dire conditions amid continued Israeli attacks and near-total restrictions on humanitarian assistance, including baby formula.
“Across Gaza, nowhere is safe – not tents, not schools, not hospitals. Pregnant women give birth in horrific conditions without midwives, medicine, or clean water. Starving mothers face impossible choices,” the group said in a social media post.
“This is not a crisis – it’s a catastrophe.
Meanwhile, a court in Gaza has given Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a criminal group backed by Israel, 10 days to surrender himself for trial.
In a statement, the Revolutionary Court of the Military Judiciary Authority in Gaza said Abu Shabab would be considered a fugitive from justice and tried in absentia if he doesn’t surrender.
He was thrust into the limelight last month when Netanyahu said his government had “activated” powerful local clans in Gaza on the advice of “security officials”.
Abu Shabab’s group, which reportedly consists of about 100 armed men, later said online that its members were involved in guarding aid shipments sent to distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Mass killings of aid seekers near the US- and Israeli-backed GHF distribution centres have become a routine occurrence.
The court said Abu Shabab faces three charges: treason and communicating with hostile parties; forming an armed gang; and armed rebellion. It said anyone who knew of his whereabouts and failed to report him would be considered to be concealing a fugitive from justice.
More than 600 Palestinians have been killed in just five weeks while waiting for food parcels at the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites.
Officials at al-Shifa, the largest medical centre in northern Gaza, say hundreds of patients are “facing death” as the hospital runs out of fuel amid Israel’s blockade.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 57,012 people and wounded 134,592, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
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