Israeli air strikes in Gaza kill 15, including five-month-old baby

Israeli air strikes on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in central Gaza overnight killed at least 15 people, including a five-month-old baby, as health authorities in the besieged territory said the death toll since the start of the war has surpassed 26,000.

In southern Gaza, Israeli forces pushed further into the city of Khan Younis, where the intensity of the fighting has increased in recent days.

The Israeli forces on Friday ordered residents of three neighbourhoods and the Khan Younis refugee camp to evacuate to a coastal area.

The camp, like others in Gaza, was initially settled by Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and has since been built up into a district of the wider city.

The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, and the commander of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, both grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp.

The intense fighting came as the United Nations’ top court on Friday stopped short of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza, as sought by South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in its military offensive.

Instead, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage. The court also rejected a request by Israel, which rejects the genocide accusation, that the case be thrown out.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the war stood at 26,083, with 64,487 Palestinians wounded.

Over the last 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were wounded, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al Qudra said in a statement.

Starvation looming

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas’s unprecedented attack into Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, and kidnapping about 250.

Israel's near-complete seal on Gaza has left almost the entire population of 2.3 million reliant on a trickle of international aid able to enter the territory each day. UN officials say about a quarter of the population now faces starvation.

Aid groups have struggled to bring food, medicines and other supplies to northern Gaza, where Israel's ground invasion first targeted and where Israel says it now largely has control.

Uday Samir, a 23-year old Gaza City native, said many of the basic foods such as flour, lentils and rice are now impossible to find across the city.

“Now, what is available is animal feed,” said Samir. “We grind it and bake it.”

All supplies enter Gaza in the south, either through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing or Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing. Aid groups say fighting and Israeli restrictions have made deliveries to the north difficult.

When convoys do travel north, supplies are often snatched by hungry Palestinian before the trucks reach their destination.