Updated: On Thursday, August 21st, day 685 of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israeli occupation attacks on the Gaza Strip killed 81 Palestinians, including 12 people who were killed by Israeli soldiers and US mercenaries while trying to obtain food for their families.
Following threats from the Israeli occupation army to Gaza City hospitals and orders to evacuate to southern Gaza, doctors and nurses at Al-Shifa Hospital have vowed to stay and remain committed to their humanitarian duty.
The director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City warned of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe if the Israeli occupation proceeds with a ground invasion of the city, stressing that more than 1.3 million residents would be at risk while hospitals are unable to provide them with medical services.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported two additional fatalities caused by famine and severe malnutrition within the last 24 hours. These latest deaths bring the total number of Palestinians who have died from hunger-related causes since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza to 271, among them 112 children.
The Government Media Office in Gaza announced that Israeli forces committed horrific massacres during the “Chariots of Gideon” operation (launched by Israel in March when Israeli officials decided to unilaterally violate the negotiated ceasefire and attack Gaza), resulting in the killing of 9,073 civilians and the injury of more than 36,900 others with varying degrees of wounds, most of them women and children.
The office stressed that these figures reflect the scale of ongoing crimes against defenseless civilians, confirming that Israel continues to target residents and populated areas as part of a comprehensive war of extermination against the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations has disclosed that Israel has rejected repeated requests to deploy independent UN monitors at Gaza’s border crossings, all of which remain under exclusive Israeli control.
This refusal has severely hindered the UN’s ability to verify the volume and nature of humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave, raising serious concerns about transparency, obstruction, and the politicization of relief efforts.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed that the absence of international monitors means the UN cannot independently assess whether aid deliveries meet the minimum requirements for Gaza’s population, which is facing catastrophic levels of hunger, displacement, and medical collapse.
The spokesperson added that bottlenecks, arbitrary delays, and interference at crossing points have become routine, undermining the credibility and effectiveness of humanitarian operations.
In a separate incident, Israeli forces targeted a site sheltering displaced Palestinians near a humanitarian coordination facility operated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Deir al-Balah. The strike caused casualties and further disrupted relief efforts in central Gaza, where thousands of civilians have sought refuge amid ongoing military operations.
Humanitarian agencies have warned that without independent oversight and unrestricted access, aid deliveries risk being manipulated or withheld, exacerbating the already dire conditions. The UN has called for the immediate deployment of monitors to ensure that aid reaches civilians impartially and in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The refusal to allow monitors, coupled with attacks near UN facilities, has drawn condemnation from rights groups and international observers, who argue that Israel’s actions amount to deliberate obstruction of humanitarian relief and may constitute violations of the laws of war.
The UN continues to demand full access to Gaza’s crossings and protection for humanitarian personnel and infrastructure.
The following attacks by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians were documented by local sources on Thursday:
11 pm
Three Palestinians were killed and others injured after being targeted by Israeli occupation forces northwest of the Gaza Strip.
6 pm:
Hamad Hospital Emergency and Ambulance: The hospital received three people killed and 91 others injured after they were targeted by Israeli occupation forces while waiting for aid in northern Gaza.
UNRWA services in #Gaza City are at severe risk as the Israeli military operations intensify.
Tens of thousands live in UNRWA shelters and the surrounding areas.
UNRWA provides healthcare, drinking water, shelter, and sanitation to the displaced.
There must be a #CeasefireNow.… pic.twitter.com/CJpDkhQzbC
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 21, 2025
5 pm:
Eight citizens, including four children, were killed on Thursday evening when Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a group of citizens in Gaza City.
A WAFA correspondent said that the Israeli occupation aircraft renewed its raids on the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City, bombing a group of citizens, which led to the killing of 8 citizens, including 4 children, and the injury of 14 others.
The occupation aircraft had previously targeted a group of citizens in the same neighborhood, killing 3 citizens.
The occupation artillery had previously targeted the eastern area of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a girl and wounding others, including children.
Since dawn today, the occupation forces have killed 12 citizens, including five waiting for aid, in shelling and gunfire in the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis.
3 pm
Three citizens were killed, Thursday evening, when Israeli occupation aircraft bombed a group of citizens in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
A Wafa news correspondent said that the occupation aircraft bombed a group of citizens in the Sabra neighborhood, killing 3 citizens.
The occupation artillery had previously targeted the eastern area of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a girl and wounding others, including children.
Since dawn today, the Israeli occupation forces have killed 12 citizens, including five waiting for aid, in shelling and gunfire in the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis.
2 pm
A girl was killed and others, including children, were injured in the Israeli occupation’s bombing of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City.
A Wafa news correspondent reported that the occupation artillery targeted the eastern area of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a girl and wounding others, including children.
10 am
10 citizens were killed and others were injured, including five waiting for aid, today, Thursday, in Israeli occupation bombing and fire in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza, Salah al-Din Street in the center of the Strip, the city of Khan Yunis in the south, and north of Rafah.
Our correspondent reported that 5 citizens from the Al-Astal family were killed in the bombing of an occupation march in an area northwest of Khan Yunis.
He added that three citizens were killed and another was injured, as a result of the occupation targeting gatherings of citizens near an aid center on Salah al-Din Street in the central Gaza Strip, while two brothers were martyred by occupation bullets near an aid center north of Rafah.
Two citizens were also martyred and others were critically injured as a result of an occupation march bombing a gathering of citizens in the Zarqa area in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.
The Israeli occupation continued bombing operations in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhoods, east of Gaza City, Al-Sabra in the center and south of the city, and Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.
On its part, Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of actively sabotaging international efforts to broker a ceasefire, while accelerating plans for a military takeover of Gaza City.
The statement comes as global concern mounts over Israel’s intensifying offensive, which has already forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and sparked urgent warnings about rising civilian casualties.
Although Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar—based on a framework previously supported by the United States—Netanyahu has signaled his intention to proceed with a full-scale assault on Gaza’s largest urban center.
Israeli forces have already launched operations in areas such as Zeitoun and Jabaliya, with military officials confirming the beginning of what they describe as the initial phase of the campaign.
The Israeli government has approved the mobilization of 60,000 reservists and extended the deployment of 20,000 more, suggesting a prolonged military effort aimed at dismantling Hamas’s remaining presence in Gaza City. While international mediators continue to advocate for a negotiated pause, Israeli authorities insist that any deal must include the unconditional release of all captives and the total defeat of Hamas.
Humanitarian agencies and the United Nations have issued dire warnings about the consequences of a full-scale assault on Gaza City. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has renewed his appeal for an immediate ceasefire, cautioning that further escalation would result in widespread death, destruction, and an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed today, Thursday, the call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, following the Israeli occupation’s announcement of the start of the first steps of first operations aimed at controlling Gaza City.
Guterres’ statements came during the African Development Conference held in Japan, where he stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to avoid death and destruction resulting from any military operation targeting Gaza City
In Italy on Thursday, the body of Palestinian Marah Abu Zuhri, who died after being evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Italy due to hunger and malnutrition, was buried in the city of San Giuliano Terme in the Italian province of Pisa.
Hundreds of members of the Palestinian, Arab and official communities, along with official, diplomatic, Italian and international figures, participated in the funeral.
The funeral ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Italy, Mona Abu Amara, heads of the Palestinian community, and representatives of Italian civil and human rights institutions.
Former President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgentini also participated, delivering a speech in which she expressed her solidarity with the killed man’s family, stressing that Mara’s death reflects the tragedy of Palestinians under occupation, and that her presence is a fulfillment of justice and a rejection of silence in the face of ongoing human suffering.
The mayor of San Giuliano Terme announced the allocation of a plot of land from the city’s property to establish a private Islamic cemetery in which the body of the starved Palestinian would be buried, in response to her mother’s wishes.
Israel has now killed at least 62,192 Palestinians, including over 18,800 children, and injured 157,114, the majority of whom are women and children, since October 7, 2023, amid warnings that no place is safe for children in the enclave with relentless bombardment, forced displacement, and starvation.
Thousands more remain missing, many believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and buried in destroyed alleyways and streets that remain inaccessible to rescue teams across the devastated Gaza Strip.
Internal Israeli intelligence data reveals that at least 83% of Palestinians killed in the Gaza offensive were civilians, contradicting official Israeli claims of a 1:1 or 2:1 civilian-to-militant ratio.
