Israel relentlessly bombs Gaza City as another child starved to death

Israeli forces have accelerated their bombing of Gaza City, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks announced that the occupation of Gaza will commence there.

The fierce bombing has forced thousands of the city’s residents, many who have been displaced multiple times, to be trapped with no way to flee. Various reports state that the bombardment is so intense that there are no safe routes for people to leave.

Correspondents on the ground told Al Jazeera that the Zeitoun neighbourhood is "being wiped off the map" as Israeli shelling continues without pause. Residents here, too, have been unable to leave, as they fear being targeted.

On Saturday morning, at least two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack targeting people queuing at an aid distribution centre near Rafah. A day earlier, at least 16 Palestinians were also killed near a distribution site run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Since dawn, at least eight other Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces bombed central and southern Gaza. The toll includes four children in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The UN human rights office also announced that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed as they were waiting to receive aid in Gaza since late May, when the GHF started operating.

Earlier on Saturday, a Gaza fisherman was killed and another was wounded by Israeli fire, as people become more desperate amid the ongoing famine caused by Israeli restrictions.

This comes as at least one more child in Gaza starved to death on Friday, taking the total toll of malnutrition-related deaths to 240, including 107 children.

Condemnation against Israel is growing around the world, with 31 Arab and Islamic countries, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, along with the Gulf Cooperation Council, slamming Netanyahu’s remarks over establishing a "Greater Israel".

The joint statement called the plans a "blatant and dangerous violation of the rules of international law".

The idea of a Greater Israel is widely understood to include the West Bank, Gaza, Syria’s Golan Heights, and even parts of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Jordan.

Others, too, have lambasted Netanyahu’s plans, including 10 Nobel Prize winners who sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister asking him to stop his plans to occupy Gaza City and allow unimpeded aid into Gaza.

Signatories of the letter include economists, such as Edmund S Phelps; Christopher A Pissarides; and Joseph E Stiglitz. In the letter, they highlight Israel’s forced starvation of Gaza and reference UN data which shows how food prices have soared in the enclave.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported on Friday that mediators are "intensifying efforts" to conclude a deal, but "Israel does not have high hopes for the new efforts".

The report added that senior Israeli officials on the negotiating team are closely monitoring developments in Cairo.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023 and levelled entire neighbourhoods. The war has been determined to be a genocide by UN experts and leading rights groups, including Amnesty International.