At least nine Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in relentless Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Sunday, as the Israeli military campaign against the besieged population continues unabated, deepening what humanitarian groups describe as a catastrophic crisis.

Local sources reported that five Palestinians lost their lives when an Israeli airstrike flattened a two-story residential building in Jabalia, northern Gaza. In the south, Israeli warplanes bombed the Al-Amoudi family home west of Khan Younis, killing two people and injuring several others.

Another airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, also west of Khan Younis, killing at least one person and wounding others.

Medical sources say the latest casualties are part of a broader surge in Israeli aerial assaults, which have killed 52 Palestinians—most of them women and children—over the past 24 hours alone. Health officials warn that Gaza’s overstretched and fuel-starved medical infrastructure is on the brink of total collapse.

Since the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, at least 53,901 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 122,593 injured, according to the latest documented figures. Thousands more are feared trapped under rubble, unreachable by emergency and civil defense crews due to the intensity of Israeli bombing and ongoing blockade.

Fuel shortages, a strangled aid flow, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure have compounded the suffering of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, the majority of whom are displaced and living under siege.

Despite mounting international condemnation, including calls from the United Nations Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and binding orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent genocide and ensure humanitarian access, Israel’s attacks have continued with impunity.

Human rights advocates and Palestinian officials accuse Israel of carrying out a deliberate campaign of collective punishment and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, while the international community struggles to enforce accountability.

As the death toll mounts and humanitarian conditions deteriorate, Palestinians and their supporters are calling on world powers to take urgent, concrete steps to halt the bloodshed and end the blockade that has turned Gaza into what many now call an open-air graveyard. (ILKHA)