Israeli attacks kill 40 as limited aid arrives in ravaged northern Gaza 

The Israeli military has killed several dozen Palestinians across the Gaza Strip in a string of attacks as it allowed a small amount of aid into the northern part of the enclave, the first after over a month of intensified siege.

Medics quoted by the Palestinian Wafa news agency said Friday evening that at least 40 people were killed across Gaza since dawn, including 24 in the north.

At least six Palestinians were killed in the targeting of the Fahd al-Sabah school sheltering displaced people in the Tuffah neighbourhood on Saturday, according to the Al Jazeera team on the ground in Deir el-Balah.

Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child, were among the dead. The Israeli military used a common justification by saying it targeted “terrorists” but did not provide evidence or details.

Five more were killed in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City, while Israeli sniper fire killed at least one person in the Zeitoun neighbourhood.

The death toll from the Israeli bombing of tents for displaced people in the so-called “humanitarian area” of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis reached at least nine. A child and two women were among the dead, according to the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties.

An Israeli air raid that used an attack helicopter targeted the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the main healthcare facility in central Gaza. It was the eighth Israeli attack on the compound since March.

Al Jazeera’s Maram Humaid, who is on the ground, reported that at least three people were killed and 26 were wounded. The assault took place just 20 metres (65 feet) from Al Jazeera’s tent in the area.

On the 400th day of the war on Saturday, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced that at least 43,552 Palestinians have been killed and 102,765 injured.

The actual number of dead is presumed to be far higher, with an estimated 10,000 bodies buried under the vast rubble of destroyed buildings across the enclave.

The United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned the fact that nearly 70 percent of the people killed in Gaza are children and women.

More than 1,000 health workers and at least 12,700 students have been killed. Some 86,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped over Gaza, destroying most of the infrastructure and displacing some two million people or about 90 percent of the population.

For the first time in over a month, since the Israeli military launched a major ground assault on northern Gaza and cut off aid, it allowed a limited amount of relief to enter the area.

The Israeli military body in charge of organising aid, COGAT, announced that 11 trucks containing food, water and medical equipment were brought to distribution centres for people still left in Jabalia and Beit Hanoon in the north.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which was involved in the delivery process, reported that not all the limited aid reached the drop-off points, with one truck ordered offloaded by Israeli soldiers in Jabalia, a main focus of the ground invasion.

The trickle of aid was allowed in, with only several days left for a deadline given to Israel by the United States, after which its arms transfers to Israel could potentially be affected.

Washington has said Israel must let in a minimum of 350 trucks a day into Gaza carrying aid, a far cry from what Israel is now allowing in and also significantly less than up to 700 trucks a day that aid organisations have said the enclave needs.

The independent Famine Review Committee said on Friday, in a rare alert, that there is a strong likelihood of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza, and immediate action is required to ease a catastrophic situation.

The Israeli military responded by claiming that researchers with international organisations “continue to rely on partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests”.

The director of the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north sounded the alarm again over worsening conditions, saying the facility is overwhelmed and many wounded are unable to reach the hospital due to a lack of ambulances and the targeting of vehicles in the region.

“We have no medicines and medical supplies,” Hussam Abu Safia told Al Jazeera. “We have no surgeons. We only have [a] few paediatricians and general internists.”

This comes as the Israeli army continues to prevent international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip to report on the situation.

Israeli strikes killed at least five journalists in October, and Israeli forces began a smear campaign against six Al Jazeera journalists reporting on the north, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“There are now almost no professional journalists left in the north to document what several international institutions have described as an ethnic cleansing campaign,” it said in a statement.