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Latest: Deadly airstrikes have killed 21 Palestinians
Recent months have seen some of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for many years.
More Israeli bombing has been reported this week, killing 21 Palestinians, and wounding 64 people, according to latest reports. Palestinian factions fired rockets into Israel following this afternoons bombings, with no casualties reported so far.
This afternoon the bombing started again and I heard intense bombing around the city. The streets are otherwise eerily empty as people are terrified of what the next hours and days will bring. Banks, businesses and schools are shut and the crossings with Israel are closed so no goods or people are coming in or out."
We've already seen children killed and lose their parents over the past 24 hours and we know from previous escalations that when bombing increases it is overwhelmingly civilians who are killed, injured and forced to flee their homes. In the last major bombing campaign 2 years ago, more than a quarter of all casualties were children and thousands of homes, hospitals, schools and health centres were bombed. Muneeb Abu-Ghazaleh, Islamic Relief Country Director in Gaza
Its vital that the international community applies pressure to stop the crisis escalating further. Israeli authorities must ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected from attack, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Islamic Relief condemns all violence against civilians and calls for an end to the decades-long Israeli blockade of Gaza. Cutting the region off from the rest of the world, the blockade has fuelled high levels of poverty and unemployment and has crippled essential services such as healthcare, electricity and water. In Gaza a staggering 1.3 million people need humanitarian aid, with many unable to adequately feed themselves or their children.
Our teams on the ground are currently preparing to respond by working through local partners to provide urgently needed medical supplies, as well as food provision, and ready-to-eat meals for displaced families.
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