Israel has maintained an eight-week blockade on food, medicine and aid entering Gaza, while continuing aerial attacks on homes and tent shelters – deepening what the United Nations describes as the war’s “worst humanitarian crisis”.

Overnight and early Thursday morning, at least 13 people were killed in Israeli attacks, according to Al Jazeera correspondents. Among the dead were three children in a tent near Nuseirat in central Gaza, and a woman and four children in a home in Gaza City.

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Also reportedly killed in a recent attack was local journalist Saeed Abu Hassanein, whose death adds to at least 232 slain reporters in Gaza during the war.

“The Gaza Strip is witnessing a clear military escalation and a soaring humanitarian crisis,” reported Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. He noted that rescuers, with much of their equipment damaged or destroyed, are increasingly struggling to reach victims trapped under wreckage.

The communication centre of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, said there was “no pause”, “no mercy”, “no humanity” to Israel’s attacks.

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The statement accompanied video footage showing an Israeli tank moving through the apparent remains of the Shaboura refugee camp in southern Gaza.

“In Shaboura refugee camp, as in every other corner in Gaza, the devastation never ends,” the centre said.

‘Dismantling’ Palestinian life

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is compounded by Israel’s continued aid blockade, which the acting head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has described as a seeming “deliberate dismantling of Palestinian life”.

“The Gaza Strip is now likely facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023,” said OCHA in its latest situation update on April 23.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health highlighted the “dangerous and catastrophic” toll on women and children facing malnutrition, with many lacking adequate food, drinking water and baby formula.

Israel’s continued refusal to let aid into Gaza defies a World Court order dating back to May 2024 for it to urgently facilitate aid into the enclave to prevent famine and starvation.