An Israeli airstrike killed freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband, and their five children as they slept in their home in Gaza City, according to Palestinian health officials. The family, part of the Al-Shaer clan, had gone to bed hungry, a fate now all too common in the war-ravaged enclave.
Their lifeless bodies, wrapped in white shrouds stained with blood, were laid outside their destroyed home on Wednesday. “This is my cousin. He was 10. We dug them out of the rubble,” said a grieving Amr al-Shaer. Another relative, Iman al-Shaer, confirmed the family had not eaten before the bombing.
The Israeli military did not comment specifically on the strike but said its air force hit 120 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, including “terrorist cells, military structures, and tunnels.”
More than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes or gunfire in a single day, while the Gaza health ministry reported 10 additional deaths from starvation overnight. That brings the total number of starvation-related deaths to 111, many of them children.
The World Health Organization reported that 21 children under five have died from malnutrition so far this year, citing Israel’s near-total aid blockade between March and May. Despite limited re-openings, aid deliveries remain severely restricted.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, 111 humanitarian organizations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Refugees International, warned that mass starvation is spreading, even as food and medical supplies sit undelivered just outside Gaza. They accused Israel of obstructing access, a claim Israel denies.
Israel says it allows aid in but must tightly control distribution to prevent supplies from reaching Hamas. Officials blame the UN for failing to pick up and distribute some 700 trucks’ worth of aid now waiting inside Gaza. Aid agencies, however, say Israeli restrictions and military presence near aid points have made safe distribution nearly impossible.
“We need to have no armed actors near our distribution points,” said Ross Smith, emergencies director at the UN World Food Programme. “That’s a basic requirement.”
Meanwhile, peace efforts remain stalled. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Europe this week for new ceasefire talks amid pressure to reach a 60-day truce deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt. Hamas is reportedly reviewing the latest proposal but insists on clarity regarding Israeli troop withdrawal and aid access.
Since the war began in October 2023, following a Hamas attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, displaced millions, and devastated the Gaza Strip.
As the death toll mounts and starvation deepens, hopes for a breakthrough remain distant, with hardline elements in Israel’s government still pushing for Hamas’s complete destruction before any deal is reached.
Written By Rodney Mbua
