Germany, France and Britain on Wednesday called on Israel to stop blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning of “an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death.”
“This must end,” their foreign ministers said in a joint statement. “We urge Israel to immediately re-start a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in order to meet the needs of all civilians.”
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced families in northern Gaza killed at least 10 people, while another hit a children’s hospital, local health authorities said, taking Wednesday’s death toll to 20.
Medics said the airstrike on the Yaffa School in the Tuffah area of Gaza City set fire to tents and classrooms. There has been no Israeli comment on the school attack.
Some furniture was still in flames several hours after the strike as people sifted through blackened classrooms and the schoolyard in search of their belongings.
Medics said at least 10 other people were killed in separate Israeli strikes across the enclave.
Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health authorities, and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone of Gaza’s land.