51 killed in 24 hours in Israeli strikes on Gaza

January 09, 2025 00:00:00

Palestinian girls sit on swings in their tent as their father Tayseer Obaid, who was displaced with his family from the north of the besieged Gaza Strip, digs a trench in an attempt to protect his children from the cold and Israeli strikes on Wednesday — AFP

Red Cross urges unhindered aid access to flood-hit and freezing Palestinian areas

GAZA, Jan 08 (AFP): The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that 51 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 45,936.

The ministry also said in a statement that at least 109,274 people had been wounded in more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross called Wednesday for safe and unhindered access to Gaza to bring desperately needed aid into the war-torn Palestinian territory wracked by hunger and where babies are freezing to death.

Heavy rain and flooding have ravaged the makeshift shelters in Gaza, leaving thousands with up to 30 centimetres (one foot) of water inside their damaged tents, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

The dire weather conditions were "exacerbating the unbearable conditions" in Gaza, it said, pointing out that many families were left "clinging on to survival in makeshift camps, without even the most basic necessities, such as blankets".

Citing the United Nations, the IFRC highlighted the deaths of eight newborn babies who had been living in tents without warmth or protection from the rain and falling temperatures.

Those deaths "underscore the critical severity of the humanitarian crisis there", IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement.

"I urgently reiterate my call to grant safe and unhindered access to humanitarians to let them provide life-saving assistance," he said.

"Without safe access-children will freeze to death. Without safe access- families will starve. Without safe access-humanitarian workers can't save lives."