Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

Pope Leo is facing growing criticism over his response to an Israeli air strike on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded several others, including a pastor. 

The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem confirmed that Father Gabriel Romanelli was among the wounded and said the strike caused significant structural damage to the Holy Family Church, where displaced Palestinian civilians had been sheltering.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the strike and said “the attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable".

In a statement, Pope Leo expressed sorrow and called for peace, but stopped short of naming Israel as the attacker, prompting disappointment from Palestinian Christians and observers around the world.

Read more: Pope Leo under fire for 'vague' statement on Israel's bombing of Gaza Catholic church

An emergency medical official in Gaza told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians attempting to reach aid north of Gaza City, killing two and wounding several others.

The incident is the latest in a string of deadly attacks targeting desperate civilians searching for food and humanitarian relief amid Israel’s ongoing siege.

The UN’s humanitarian affairs office has warned that families in Gaza are enduring “catastrophic hunger,” with children “wasting away” and some dying before help can reach them.

In a statement posted on X, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said people scouring for food are being shot at, calling the situation “unconscionable.” It reiterated that safe, unhindered access for aid is a legal and moral necessity.

The warning came as Israeli forces shot and killed at least 92 people waiting for food aid today. More than 900 have been killed in similar incidents since May, according to Gaza health authorities.

A Palestinian with special needs has died from malnutrition in Gaza, according to a medical source at the Baptist Hospital speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The hospital staff said the man succumbed to prolonged hunger and lack of access to adequate care, highlighting the worsening humanitarian disaster under Israel's ongoing siege.

Health officials have repeatedly warned that food insecurity is pushing Gaza’s most vulnerable—especially those with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and children—towards starvation.

At least 104 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since early morning, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera.

Among those killed were 78 people who had gathered in hopes of receiving desperately needed aid. More than 200 others were wounded in the same attacks.

At least 18 people have died in the the past 24 hours in Gaza due to hunger, dehydration or malnutrition, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

The ministry said that hospitals were receiving hundreds of cases daily of people with life-threatening hunger-related symptoms, including memory loss and acute energy deficiency, driven by Israel's blockade on food and medical supplies.

It added that the total number of hunger-related deaths due to Israel's blockade had reached 86, of whom 76 are children. At least 800 children are currently experiencing life-threatening conditions due to malnutrition.

Tens of thousands of Moroccans took to the streets of the capital Rabat on Sunday, protesting against Israel's war on Gaza and calling for the reversal of the kingdom's normalisation deal with Israel.

Protesters gathered in the city centre, holding Palestinian flags and placards calling for an end to the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

"It's a disgrace, Gaza is under fire", "Lift the blockade", "Morocco, Palestine, one people" and "no to normalisation", the demonstrators chanted.

"Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world," Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat, told AFP.

"It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation."

Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalisation deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the kingdom as Israel's war on Gaza enters into its 22nd month.

At least 67 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire on Sunday while waiting for UN aid trucks in northern Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said. 

Starving Palestinians were waiting for humanitarian aid in al-Sudaniya, northwest of Gaza City, when Israeli forces opened fire.

The total number of Palestinians killed while attempting to access humanitarian aid has reached 891, with more than 5,754 wounded.

Israel's blockade of Gaza is having a devastating impact on the population of the enclave.

Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals are inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food. 

Read more: At least 67 killed by Israel near aid truck in Gaza

British surgeon Nick Maynard described seeing young Palestinian boys shot by Israeli forces while waiting for food at Gaza's aid sites, with "injuries clustered in specific [body] areas".

Nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed at aid sites since Israel took control in May. pic.twitter.com/G36kV2I0QH

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 20, 2025

Seven Palestinian civilians, including a child, have been killed and several others wounded after Israeli forces bombed tents sheltering displaced people in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza.

It comes as the Israeli army on Sunday issued new forced expulsion orders for areas in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. 

Israeli forces killed at least 80 Palestinians and wounded 304 more in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

That brought the Palestinian death toll since October 2023 to 58,895 fatalities, with an additional 140,980 people sustaining injuries. The majority of the victims are women and children.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks in the north of the Gaza Strip has risen to 67, after more bodies were brought into hospitals from the scene, the Palestinian health ministry said. 

Pope Leo called for an end to the "barbarity of war" on Sunday, as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.

Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.

Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.

"I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population," he said.

Earlier this week, Pope Leo was criticised for making a "vague" statement about the attack and failing to mention Israel.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in the Al-Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza City, has risen to 30, with at least 60 others wounded, according to medics.

Israeli forces opened fire on starving Palestinian civilians gathered in the area waiting to receive food aid.

The total number of Palestinians killed while attempting to access humanitarian aid reached 891 on Saturday, with more than 5,754 wounded.

Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food. 

"We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger," the health ministry said.

More than a thousand people are believed to have been killed in a week of fighting in Syria's Sweida, even as an uneasy truce reigned across the governorate on Sunday.

Humanitarian convoys were readying to enter Sweida to ease the impact of days of sectarian violence that broke out last weekend between Syrian Bedouin, Druze and government forces.

Since midnight, "Sweida has been relatively calm", the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights (SOHR) reported, saying more than a thousand people had been killed over the past week.

The deaths included 336 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians, 194 of whom were "summarily executed by members of the Defense and Interior Ministries".

Also among the dead were 342 members of government security forces and 21 Bedouin, including three civilians, who were "summarily executed by Druze fighters".

Read more: More than 1,000 dead in week of fighting in Syria's Sweida