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Israeli forces have killed 86 people in Gaza since Biden announced a ceasefire

Smoke rises behind destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments as seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025 [AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov]

Despite the announcement Wednesday by US President Joe Biden that Israel had agreed to implement a ceasefire in the Gaza genocide, the Israeli military is continuing its rampage throughout the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli forces have killed 86 people and wounded 558 since the announcement, in the highest daily death toll in over a week. The dead include 23 children. On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had attacked “50 terror targets” in Gaza.

The Palestinian Information Center reported that “the occupation’s aircraft and artillery continued their raids and violent shelling on Thursday in various parts of the Gaza Strip, targeting homes, displaced persons’ gatherings, and streets, causing dozens” of deaths.

Al Jazeera reported, “Within the past 24 hours, the Israeli military scaled up its attacks across the Gaza Strip, mainly targeting buildings and public facilities. More people were killed inside their homes and shelters, where they had been seeking refuge and protection.”

Despite earlier statements accusing Hamas negotiators of “extortion,” the Israeli prime minister’s office announced Thursday that an agreement had been reached, and that a vote of Israel’s security cabinet would be held on Friday. There appear to be significant divisions within the security cabinet over the agreement. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Thursday he would resign from the government if the deal was ratified, declaring, “If this irresponsible deal is approved and implemented, we, the members of Jewish Power, will submit letters of resignation to the Prime Minister.”

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora, was more nuanced in his statement on the agreement, making it clear that it would not involve the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. “The most essential foundation of this deal is Israel’s refusal to commit to ending the war,” he wrote. “Equally important, Hamas is not receiving its demand for a complete withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza. The IDF will continue to hold the Philadelphi Corridor (with five outposts and patrols along its entire length) and the perimeter along Gaza’s borders,” he wrote in a statement on X.

He made it clear that the incoming Trump administration would only intensify US support for the genocide, declaring it is “[U]ndoubtedly expected to be the most supportive of Israel ever.” He added, “Last night, I listened carefully to @michaelgwaltz, the incoming national security advisor to President Trump, a true friend of Israel, who stated in a Fox News interview that the incoming administration supports Israel’s right to continue the war as needed and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that Hamas does not continue to rule Gaza.” He added, “The designated secretary of defense, @PeteHegseth, said this week during his confirmation hearing that he supports Israel’s right ‘to destroy Hamas and eliminate it to the last man.’”

The humanitarian situation in Gaza, meanwhile, continues to deteriorate. In a statement published last week, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said, “For the children of Gaza, the new year has brought more death and suffering from attacks, deprivation, and increasing exposure to the cold.”

She continued:

At least 74 children have reportedly been killed in relentless violence in the Gaza Strip in just the first seven days of 2025. Children have reportedly been killed in several mass casualty events, including nighttime attacks in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Al Mawasi, a unilaterally designated “safe zone” in the south. The most recent attack, yesterday, saw five children reportedly killed in Al Mawasi.

In a statement on January 14, Save the Children wrote:

The use of explosive weapons in Gaza in 2024 condemned an average of 475 children each month—or 15 children a day—to potentially lifelong disabilities, including severely injured limbs and hearing impairments...

It added that this

shows that in the first 11 months of 2024, at least 5,230 children sustained injuries requiring significant rehabilitation support that is inaccessible due to attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers by Israeli forces and restrictions on entry of critical supplies, leaving them with a high likelihood of disability.

Dr. Ana Jeelani, an orthopedic surgeon with Save the Children’s partner organization Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), said: “When you treat children with injuries, they have growing bones, so if you have an injury to the growing part of your bone, then that part will stop growing.” She added, “Wounds are not healing due to increased levels of malnutrition—we’re basically trying to stitch back wounds that won’t heal. Children are heading to amputations because bones are not healing, limbs fixed but not functional because of the gravity of the situation.”

In a separate report, the United Nations Population Fund wrote that “over 40,000 pregnant women are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) and more than 8,000 are enduring catastrophic food insecurity conditions (IPC Phase 5).” It added, “At present, emergency obstetric and newborn care is only available at seven out of 18 partially functional hospitals across Gaza, four out of 11 field hospitals, and a community health center.”

Earlier this month, a landmark study found that the official death toll in Gaza, which stands at 46,000, underestimates the actual number of dead by over 40 percent, and that the actual death toll “probably exceeded 70,000.”

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