Gaza Crisis Deepens: Israel Intercepts Projectile as Malnutrition Crisis Grips Palestinian Children

Israeli air force intercepts Gaza projectile amid escalating violence; Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by starving children and medical shortages.

---

🧨 Israel Intercepts Gaza Projectile Amid Intensifying Conflict

In the latest development in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Israeli military reported intercepting a projectile launched from northern Gaza. The launch triggered alerts in southern Israel near the Gaza fence, raising fresh security concerns even as humanitarian conditions inside Gaza continue to deteriorate rapidly.

While the intercepted rocket caused no reported damage or casualties, the escalation in firepower coincides with growing international scrutiny over Israel’s blockade and its devastating impact on Palestinian civilians.

---

⚠️ “Unprecedented” Hunger Crisis Unfolds in Gaza

🏥 Hospitals Flooded With Starving Civilians

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, an “unprecedented” number of severely malnourished Palestinians — many of them children — are flooding into hospitals across the enclave.

“Our teams are seeing children in such critical conditions that until recently were only seen in textbooks,” said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA.

🧒 1-Year-Old Girl Dies of Malnutrition

A one-year-old girl tragically died of malnutrition in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Friday. This marks the 69th child to die of hunger-related causes since October 2023, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

---

📉 Humanitarian Collapse: UNRWA Sounds the Alarm

🚫 Aid Blockades Driving the Crisis

UNRWA’s Director-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the severe restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, calling the crisis “engineered and man-made.”

“One in 10 children screened is now officially malnourished,” Lazzarini warned.

Essential items like medicine, nutritional supplements, fuel, and hygiene supplies are rapidly depleting, worsening the already catastrophic living conditions.

---

🩺 Gaza Hospitals Report “Extreme Exhaustion and Fatigue”

Medical professionals say patients are arriving with:

• Extreme fatigue and muscle wasting
• Symptoms of protein deficiency
• Dehydration and impaired immune responses

Doctors are reportedly reusing syringes and IV lines, while hospitals run generators for only a few hours daily due to fuel shortages.

---

🔥 War Enters New Phase as Syria Erupts in Violence

⚔️ Druze and Bedouin Clashes in Suwayda

In neighboring Syria, violence has resumed in Suwayda, a predominantly Druze province, where tribal clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin militias erupted again following the withdrawal of Syrian government troops.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed fighting west of Suwayda involving tribal fighters supported by Damascus clashing with Druze forces.

🏃‍♂️ Hundreds Evacuated, 87 Bodies Recovered

Syria’s Minister of Disaster Response, Raed al-Saleh, stated:

• Hundreds of families evacuated
• More than 570 wounded
• 87 dead bodies recovered

A joint operations center has been established to coordinate relief between government and humanitarian agencies.

---

🔍 Israel’s Role in Syrian Strikes

✈️ Damascus Bombed: Israel Claims Support for Druze

The Israeli air force recently carried out airstrikes on central Damascus, targeting areas near the Defense Ministry and the presidential palace. Israel claims the strikes were meant to protect the Druze minority and prevent hostile actors from gaining ground near its borders.

However, prominent Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou condemned the attack, stating:

“Any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community.”

---

🇺🇳 International Reaction & Ceasefire Moves

✝️ Patriarchs Enter Gaza

In a symbolic gesture, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch, entered Gaza to visit the Holy Family Church, bombed in a recent Israeli airstrike.

🕊️ Ceasefire Talks Underway

An unnamed Israeli official said Israel has agreed to allow limited Syrian internal security forces to re-enter Suwayda for 48 hours. This move follows reported international mediation efforts to stabilize the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed late on Wednesday that ceasefire negotiations are “progressing positively.”

---

🧾 Quick Recap of Key Developments

• Israel intercepts projectile from Gaza amid intensifying hostilities.
• 30+ Palestinians killed in a day, including 7 aid seekers.
• 1-year-old dies of hunger in Gaza; 69 children dead from malnutrition since October 2023.
• Severe shortages of medical and nutrition supplies worsen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
• Fighting resumes in Syria’s Suwayda as government troops withdraw.
• 87 bodies recovered and hundreds evacuated in southern Syria.
• UN reports rights violations by all factions in Suwayda.
• Religious leaders enter Gaza to assess church damage and support local civilians.

---

🧠 Insight: What This Means for the Region

🔄 A Deadly Feedback Loop

What’s unfolding in Gaza and southern Syria is not merely a series of isolated incidents — it’s a complex web of regional instability, humanitarian catastrophe, and geopolitical chess involving Israel, Iran, the U.S., and local militias.

The combination of:

• Cross-border military actions
• Internal tribal tensions
• Aid blockades
• Child deaths from hunger

…is creating what analysts describe as a “generational crisis.”

“We’re witnessing the collapse of state institutions and international law,” said a UN humanitarian affairs officer on condition of anonymity.

---

✍️ Final Thoughts

The intercepted rocket from Gaza may have grabbed headlines, but the deeper crisis lies in starving hospitals, dead children, and abandoned families. Meanwhile, Suwayda’s civil unrest adds another layer to the region’s volatility.

If diplomacy fails and the blockade persists, humanitarian organizations warn of a potential famine — one the international community may be too late to prevent.

UN says credible reports indicate widespread rights violations in Suwayda

The UN Human Rights Office says credible reports indicate widespread rights violations have been committed by all factions fighting in Suwayda, including summary executions, arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction and looting of homes.

Among the reported perpetrators were security forces, government-affiliated elements, as well as Druze and Bedouins, the office stated.

Reports of rights violations include:

• On July 15, armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities deliberately opened fire at a family gathering, killing at least 13 people.
• On the same day, they reportedly summarily executed six men near their homes in two separate incidents.
• The office has also documented the public humiliation of a Druze man, including the forcible shaving of his moustache, an important cultural symbol for the Druze community.
• Since July 12, hundreds have been reported killed, the UN added.

“My office has received accounts of distressed Syrians who are living in fear for their lives and those of their loved ones,” said UN human rights chief Volker Turk. “The deployment of state security forces should bring safety and protection, not add to the fear and violence.”

‘The hospital’s yards turned into graveyards’

Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza is forcing doctors in crammed medical facilities to make difficult decisions about who to treat.

Patients with chronic illnesses are often the first to miss out because emergency departments are overwhelmed by people wounded in Israeli attacks.

“Before the war, I used to receive dialysis three times a week, with each session lasting four hours. At that time, the situation was stable, the treatment was effective, and we would return home feeling well and rested,” Omda Dagmash, a dialysis patient, told Al Jazeera at the barely functioning al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

“Now we can barely make the journey to the hospital, particularly since we are not eating well.”

At al-Shifa, the dialysis schedule has been scaled down to shorter and less frequent sessions. For some, it is a matter of life and death.

“The journey here is long and costly,” said Rowaida Minyawi, an elderly patient. “After all this exhaustion, we sometimes can’t find treatment. I have heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Even the medicine we get is not good. What should we do? Die at home?”

Besides prioritising patients, healthcare workers say they also have to scale back operations to the minimum, as no fuel means no power – and no way to save lives.

“Only a few departments are working. We had to cut electricity to the rest,” said Ziad Abu Humaidan, from the hospital’s engineering department.

“The hospital’s yards turned into graveyards rather than a place of care and healing. Without electricity, there is no lighting, no functioning medical equipment, and no support for other essential services.”

Israeli physicians’ group say GHF ‘must be removed’ from Gaza

Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said the continued presence of the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) “endangers Palestinian lives”.

Castigating the GHF’s methods after at least 19 people were crushed to death at one of its food distribution sites on Wednesday in the south of Gaza, the Israeli physicians’ group said “this is not what humanitarian aid looks like.

“This is what systematic harm to human beings looks like,” it said.

GHF “must be removed from the Strip immediately and replaced with systematic, independent international aid”, it added.

“Only neutral and internationally recognised humanitarian organisations can put an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.”

Israeli combat veteran raises alarm over increasing suicide of soldiers since October 7

An Israeli combat veteran has urged the government to quickly address concerns of soldiers returning from the war in Gaza, amid reports of increasing suicide rates.

In an interview with the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan, Tzachi Atedagi, an advocate for the protection of the mental health of soldiers, noted that 10 soldiers recently took their own lives in a span of less than two weeks.

“We are crying out. Enough is enough,” Atedagi told Kan Network B’s This Morning programme.

“There are a lot of combat veterans roaming the streets, but it is very difficult for us [to get help] with all the bureaucracy around,” he said.

“Sometimes, a combat veteran doesn’t have 24 hours to wait,” he added, citing several reports of soldiers who killed themselves while waiting for health intervention from the government.

Earlier this week, The Times of Israel reported that a soldier was seriously wounded in an apparent attempted suicide while in training in southern Israel.

In January 2025, the Israeli army reported that 28 soldiers had taken their own lives since the start of the war, marking the highest toll in 13 years.

Since then, several more cases of suicide by soldiers have been reported, although an official tally will not be released by the Israeli military until the end of the year.

At least 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since dawn, medical sources in the territory have told Al Jazeera.

Among them were five killed in an Israeli attack on a camp for displaced people in southern Gaza, staff at the Nasser Hospital confirmed. Ten others were injured in the attack.

Israeli police reopen settler attack probe after press investigation revelations

Israeli police have reopened an investigation into an Israeli settler attack on a peace activist in the occupied West Bank, following a damning report into failures to investigate the case.

Israeli outlet Haaretz reported on Thursday that authorities had closed their probe into the assault – which took place in village of Mughayyir al-Deir – claiming they were unable to identify the suspects.

In May, settlers attacked a group of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists accompanying them in Mughayyir al-Deir. Among the peace activists was Avishay Mohar, who had his cameras, cellphone, wallet and other items stolen.

Mohar filed a police complaint which included a picture of several of the attackers and the name of one assailant. His stolen computer’s GPS tracker was also active in the weeks after the attack, showing it was moving between illegal outposts in the West Bank.

But Israeli police closed the case, claiming they had been unable to identify the perpetrators.

Following Haaretz’s report this week, police said they had reopened it.

More condemnation of Israel’s attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church

Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l’Oeuvre d’Orient, has described Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church as “totally unacceptable”.

“It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population,” Gollnisch told the AFP news agency.

“There were families, there were civilians,” he said.

Israel has repeatedly targeted places of worship in Gaza, levelling ‘dozens of mosques and churches’

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

An initial probe launched by the Israeli military found that the Catholic church was hit by shrapnel from a nearby shell that was fired.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Israel does not target places of worship.

But throughout the war on Gaza, within the last 21 months, the Israeli military has repeatedly targeted and levelled dozens of mosques and churches.

As to the claims that the Israeli military doesn’t target civilians – well, that is also not true, given how many people have been killed in this war.

Just last week, at least 10 Palestinians were killed waiting in a queue at a water distribution site. Many of those killed were children, and because of the international pressure, this prompted Israel to release a statement saying there was a malfunction in their munitions.

The Israeli military maintains that it only targets military sites in Gaza, but the evidence on the ground shows otherwise.

Israel’s deadly attack on Catholic church in Gaza ‘not an isolated incident’

New details are emerging about the congregation of Gaza’s only Catholic church that was targeted on Thursday by Israel.

More than 600, mostly women and children, were sheltering there. We now know at least three people have died and at least 10 have been injured.

We also are aware that the pope had been contacting members of the congregation on a nightly basis to check on the wellbeing of those sheltering there.

Asked about the incident, Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, said the president was not happy when he heard about what had happened.

Still, this is not an isolated incident.

In fact, the Israeli military has targeted at least half a dozen churches in Gaza since just October 7, 2023, using precision-guided munitions.

Still, the Israeli military maintains this latest attack was purely accidental.

A recap of recent developments

• Israeli attacks across Gaza killed 56 people on Thursday, including several aid seekers, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent in the Palestinian enclave.
• Israel said it “deeply regrets” bombing Gaza’s only Catholic church, which it said was the result of “stray ammunition”, after international condemnation of the deadly attack from world leaders and Pope Leo.
• The spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres said Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of three UN agencies working on Gaza – OCHA, OHCHR, and UNRWA.
• Israel has reportedly carried out a renewed air strike near Suwayda in southern Syria, state news agency SANA reports, threatening a fragile ceasefire between Druze and Bedouin and government forces in the area.
• Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkiye have jointly condemned Israel’s strikes on Syria as a “flagrant violation of international law”.
• The Israeli military has again violated its ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, carrying out attacks on towns in the country’s south, killing four people.

Welcome to our coverage

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and its attacks on Syria.

Stay with us for the latest news, reactions and analyses.

You can find all our updates from Thursday, July 17,

---

📎 Related WordPress Articles You May Like

• Gaza on the Brink: Inside the Malnutrition Emergency
• Explainer: Who Are the Druze and Why Is Suwayda Burning?
• UNRWA Under Fire: Can It Still Save Gaza’s Children?
• Israel-Syria Tensions: What’s Next After Damascus Airstrikes?