TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - More than 62,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in nearly two years of what Palestinians describe as a genocide in Gaza, up to Tuesday, August 19, 2025.
Residents have endured relentless bombardment with no safe refuge, widespread hunger caused by the blockade, and daily killings as people searched desperately for food for their families.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, cited by Anadolu, reported that at least 18 civilians were killed and dozens injured in fresh Israeli attacks on Tuesday.
In Khan Younis, two Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed when Israeli forces struck a tent sheltering refugee families near University College. Four more people were killed and several wounded in an airstrike on a refugee tent in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
In Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received five bodies and several wounded after an attack on a refugee tent in al-Bassa. The hospital also reported that five others were killed when Israeli forces targeted civilians near Kissufim, southeast of the city.
In Gaza City, the Shifa Medical Complex received two bodies and 53 injured after Israeli gunfire struck a crowd waiting for aid in the Zikim area, northwest of Beit Lahia. Israel has intensified its assault on Gaza City, the largest urban center in the enclave, reducing it to ruins as it seeks to seize control and force tens of thousands into southern concentration zones.
Al Jazeera confirmed that at least three Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli strike on the al-Sabra neighborhood, while local media reported that journalist Islam al-Koumi was among those killed on Monday.
Reporting from Deir al-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said Israeli attacks continued incessantly in eastern Gaza City.
"Israeli attacks are still ongoing, unabated, in the eastern part of Gaza City. The scale of attacks illustrates how Israel’s current strategy is shaping the geography and demography of Gaza," he said.
"We can see how Israel is using heavy artillery, fighter jets and drones, in order to destroy what’s left of residential homes there. The scale of destruction is extremely overwhelming."
He added that the military campaign is designed to allow Israeli forces to advance on the ground while turning entire neighborhoods into rubble. "People there say Israeli attacks are happening day and night."
Many residents who have been displaced multiple times during the war are evacuating once more from Gaza City, while others are staying behind. On Sunday, an airstrike killed nearly 60 people in the city, and several remaining health facilities were also hit.
Some residents told Al Jazeera that leaving is simply impossible. "How am I supposed to even get there? How can I go? I need nearly $900 to move – I don’t even have a dollar. How am I supposed to reach the south," asked Bilal Abu Sitta, a refugee.
Others expressed deep mistrust of Israel’s promises of aid or protection. “We don’t want Israel to give us anything,” Noaman Hamad said. “We want them to [allow] us back to the homes we fled – we don’t need more than that.”
A glimmer of hope emerged when Hamas said it had accepted a Qatari- and Egyptian-mediated proposal for a 60-day ceasefire. A source familiar with the talks told Al Jazeera the deal would include the release of half of the Israeli captives held in Gaza as well as an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
Yet many in Gaza remain skeptical, recalling how a January ceasefire collapsed in March, plunging the war into an even darker phase.
Israel Deliberate Starvation in Gaza
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that five civilians, including two children, died in the last 24 hours from malnutrition caused by Israel’s blockade. As of August 18, at least 263 people, including 112 children, had died of starvation.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) warned in July 2025 that more than 320,000 children—virtually all under the age of five in Gaza—are at risk of acute malnutrition.
Families are surviving with minimal food and almost no variety, the agency said, urging an immediate ceasefire to allow large-scale humanitarian aid to enter.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said children in Gaza should be preparing for school but are instead scavenging for water, queuing for food, and living in overcrowded classrooms turned into shelters.
The agency warned that children have already lost three years of education and risk becoming a "lost generation."
Amnesty International accused Israel of "systematically destroying the health, well-being, and social fabric of Palestinian lives," describing the blockade as a "deliberately engineered campaign of starvation."
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported a surge in mass casualties linked to both the blockade and Israeli monitoring of aid distribution by the controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed aid body, GHF.
"The indiscriminate killings, and the counts of mass casualties we still [see] on a daily basis right now, hasn’t stopped, but only increased in its scale," said Nour Alsaqqa of MSF.
She said one MSF facility in Rafah has been overwhelmed by injured Palestinians, including children, arriving from distribution sites.
"We are receiving baby injuries and killings from the distribution sites. People who are coming with gunshots, with different injuries, related to the distribution sites and they go only seeking food," she said.
"They go out of desperation and they risk their lives to access aid, which is still inaccessible due to Israel’s siege."
Since the GHF center was established in late May, nearly 2,000 people have been killed while trying to obtain aid, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
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