Israeli Attack Kills Starvationing Gazan Families While They Sleep

ILLUSTRATION/Children's PHOTOs In Gaza Awaiting UN News PHOTO Food/DOC ASSISTANCE

JAKARTA - Israeli airstrikes killed Al-Shaer's family who were sleeping hungry in their home in Gaza City.

The family's freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband, and five of their children were among the more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli attacks or shots, according to local health officials.

Their bodies were laid in white cloth outside their homes which were bombed on Wednesday, July 23, with their names written with pens.

Blood seeps through the cloth when the body is laid, making them red.

"This is my cousin. He is 10 years old. We dug them up from the rubble," said Amr al-Shaer, holding one of the bodies after taking it.

Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lives near the scene, said the family had not eaten anything before the bomb fell.

"Children sleep without food," he said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to attacks on the family home, but said its air force had attacked 120 targets across Gaza in the past day, including terrorist cells, military structures, tunnels, trap structures, and other terrorist infrastructure locations.

Relatives said some neighbors survived just because they were looking for food at the time the attack took place.

Ten other Palestinians died overnight from starvation, Gaza's Ministry of Health said, bringing the total number of people who died from hunger to 111 people.

In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organizations, including the Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, and Refugees International, said mass hunger spread even as tons of food, clean water, and medical supplies were abandoned outside Gaza, where aid groups were blocked from accessing them.

Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza since early March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, said it was committed to allowing aid entry.

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blamed Hamas for the suffering of the 2.2 million population of Gaza.

Israel also accused the United Nations (UN) of failing to act on time, saying 700 aid trucks were abandoned in Gaza.

"It's time for them to take it and stop blaming Israel for the traffic jams," said Israeli government spokesman David aired.

The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza said Israel was hampering shipments, and Israeli forces had shot dead hundreds of Palestinians near the point of gathering aid since May.

"We have a minimum requirement to be able to operate in Gaza," Ross Smith, emergency director at the UN World Food Program, told Reuters.

"One of the most important things I want to emphasize is that we must not place armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoy," he said.