A Palestinian boy looks at the destruction as he stands amid the debris following overnight Israeli strikes on a residential area in Jabalia's district of Nazla on Wednesday —AFP JERUSALEM, Apr 16 (AFP/AP): Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the country would continue to block humanitarian aid from entering the war-battered Gaza Strip, where intense aerial and ground assaults have resumed.
"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement, days after the UN warned the territory was facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023. Israel has blocked aid from entering since March 2.
Gaza children among 11
killed in Israeli strikes
Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes in the early hours of Wednesday killed at least 11 people, including women and children.
Israel resumed its aerial and ground offensive across Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities in the territory.
A pre-dawn air strike in Gaza City killed 10 people, including several women and children, according to civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
He said the strike targeted the home belonging to the Hassouna family in the Al-Tuffa neighbourhood of Gaza City.
"Our teams transferred 10 martyrs and several wounded to Al-Shifa hospital after the Hassouna family's home was targeted," Bassal said.
Israeli troops 'will remain in Gaza,
Lebanon and Syria indefinitely'
Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.
Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas to release hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire last month.
Gaza has become
'mass grave': MSF
Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday said Israel's military operations and blockage of humanitarian aid had turned Gaza into a graveyard for Palestinians and those helping them.
Israel, fighting in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, resumed operations in the Palestinian territory in March after the collapse of a two-month-old ceasefire amid differences over the next phase.
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