Israeli occupation forces killed five Palestinians and wounded others across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as the army expanded its control in eastern Gaza City inside what Israel designates as the “yellow zone.”
The attacks came amid intensified shelling, drone strikes, and incursions that forced families to flee under fire, while humanitarian agencies reported a rise in preventable diseases among displaced children living in overcrowded shelters.
Medical sources in Gaza said five Palestinians were killed and ten others wounded by Israeli fire since dawn.
In southern Gaza, an Israeli strike targeted a vehicle in the al‑Mawasi area of Khan Younis, killing one young man and injuring four others.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported another fatality when an Israeli drone struck a displaced‑persons tent in the port area west of Gaza City, with additional injuries recorded, including among children.
Earlier in the day, a medical source told Anadolu Agency that a young man was killed and his wife and children wounded during heavy shelling and gunfire from Israeli military vehicles that advanced around the Dawla intersection southeast of the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City.
Two more bodies and several wounded Palestinians were transported to the Shifa Hospital after an Israeli drone strike hit a gathering of civilians near the Sanafur intersection in the Tuffah neighborhood northeast of Gaza City.
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli vehicles advanced overnight around the Dawla intersection under heavy artillery fire, pushing westward toward Salahuddin Street and removing concrete blocks marking the “yellow line,” expanding the army’s control and reducing the remaining space available to civilians.
Witnesses said dozens of families fled their homes in panic as Israeli forces fired live rounds and shells during the incursion.
The “yellow line” is an Israeli‑imposed security strip inside the Gaza Strip that Palestinians are barred from approaching.
The army also carried out an airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, causing extensive destruction.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel now controls roughly 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.
Since the “ceasefire” agreement signed in October 2025, Israeli forces have repeatedly expanded the invasions and attacks beyond the areas defined in the accord.
Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate across the enclave. Kidney‑failure patients in Gaza issued an urgent appeal on Thursday to save them from what they described as “slow death,” during a gathering organized by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces Follow‑Up Committee at al‑Aqsa Hospital in Deir al‑Balah, in central Gaza.
Participants called for the entry of medicines and medical supplies and demanded permission for patients to travel for treatment. Hospital spokesperson Khalil al‑Daqran said that 43 percent of kidney‑failure patients in Gaza have died since the start of the genocide in Gaza due to shortages of medicines and essential supplies.
He added that nearly half of the dialysis machines and equipment have stopped functioning, directly threatening patient survival.
Health workers also reported a noticeable rise in chickenpox infections among displaced children in southern Gaza.
🚨 GAZA’S CHILDREN ARE BEING FAILED:
Osama Sahloul, only 20 days old, is one of countless children suffering as disease spreads through Gaza after more than two and a half years of genocidal war.
Families are packed into worn out tents, with collapsed sanitation, little clean… pic.twitter.com/zNoXSbszNV
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) July 16, 2026
Doctors in Khan Younis, Rafah, and central Gaza confirmed new cases in recent days, attributing the spread to overcrowded shelters, limited access to clean water, and the collapse of routine vaccination services.
UNRWA’s latest health updates warn of increasing clusters of viral infections among children, including chickenpox, scabies, lice, and respiratory illnesses, driven by sewage overflow, solid‑waste accumulation, and shortages of hygiene supplies.
The agency notes that 126 UNRWA installations now fall inside areas where access is restricted by Israeli military control, limiting humanitarian operations and exposing displaced families to heightened risks.
Since the “ceasefire” agreement of October 11, 2025, the cumulative toll has reached 1,127 killed, 3,643 wounded, and 800 bodies recovered from destroyed areas, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Since the start of the genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has risen to 73,250, with 173,751 wounded.
The ministry stated that additional victims remain under rubble and on roads that emergency teams cannot reach due to ongoing Israeli fire.
