Israel’s heaviest Gaza strikes in weeks kill 89 in a day, including families and starving civilians

Israel has unleashed its most intense bombing of Gaza in weeks, killing at least 89 Palestinians in 24 hours, Gaza’s civil defence agency confirmed on Tuesday. The dead include at least 15 people shot down while queueing for food, deepening fears of a worsening famine in the besieged territory.

The onslaught comes just a day after international condemnation over the killing of six journalists in an Israeli airstrike, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif.

Officials in Gaza said airstrikes pounded multiple districts of Gaza City in the three days following Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approving plans to expand the war. Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, described “very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings” in Zeitoun and Sabra. Residents said the bombardment was so intense it “sounded like the war was restarting”.

Witness Amr Salah, 25, told Reuters that tanks were also shelling houses: “Several houses were hit, and the planes carried out what we call fire rings — several missiles landing on roads in eastern Gaza.”

In the north, more than 15 people were killed while waiting for food distribution at the Zikim crossing, ambulance chief Fares Awad said. In the south, an airstrike in Khan Younis killed a couple and their child, while another hit a tent camp in Mawasi, killing four more. Eleven bodies were also pulled from rubble left by earlier strikes, Gaza’s health ministry reported.

The crisis is not only from the bombs. Starvation is claiming more lives. Five people — including two children — died from hunger in the last 24 hours, pushing the recorded famine-related death toll to 227 since October 2023. Nasser Medical Complex confirmed the death of a six-year-old boy from hunger-related illness, while doctors in Khan Younis reported a 30-year-old man had died of malnutrition. Gaza’s health ministry says 103 children are among those who have starved.

Foreign ministers from 24 countries — including the UK, France, Spain, Australia and Japan — joined EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in warning that “humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels”. They demanded Israel allow aid shipments and humanitarian access immediately, declaring: “Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation.”

Netanyahu dismissed accusations of a “starvation policy” as “completely false” but admitted “problems” with food distribution. In an interview with Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS, he again suggested Palestinians could leave Gaza, saying they should be given “the opportunity to leave combat zones and generally to leave the territory, if they want”. Similar proposals from Israeli politicians — and Donald Trump — have been condemned internationally as calls for ethnic cleansing.

Israel’s military said it was “looking into” reports of civilian deaths and insisted precautions were taken to limit harm. It claimed its forces had killed dozens of militants in north Gaza and destroyed more Hamas tunnels in recent weeks.

The escalation follows the killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa on Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces admitted responsibility, alleging al-Sharif was a Hamas commander — a claim Al Jazeera and the journalist had previously denied.

The Hind Rajab Foundation and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights say they will file a joint complaint with the International Criminal Court, tracing accountability from Netanyahu to senior Israeli military leaders. UN secretary general António Guterres called for an independent investigation.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accused Israel of “silencing voices reporting atrocities” in Gaza, noting that over 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the war began.