A look at life inside Gaza amid airstrikes and worsening humanitarian crisis

Geoff Bennett:

Israel has intensified its bombing of Gaza again, launching 400 airstrikes today across the Palestinian territory.

Amna Nawaz:

The Gaza Health Ministry run by Hamas reports more than 700 people were killed, bringing the overall Palestinian death toll to 5,700.

UNICEF says the number includes 2,300 children. Israel says 1,400 of its citizens were killed in the Hamas terror attack that ignited the war.

Geoff Bennett:

Meantime, 20 more trucks loaded with aid stood by in Egypt today, but none were allowed into Gaza. U.N. officials said they hope to make the crossing tomorrow.

Amna Nawaz:

But constant bombing and quickly dwindling necessities mean the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing worse almost by the hour.

Nick Schifrin reports on what that means for those under fire in the war zone.

Nick Schifrin:

Today, Gaza is a land of endless loss; 1-year-old Wateen (ph) lost her mother last night in an Israeli airstrike. She died protecting her two children, Wateen and twin brother Ahmed (ph). They had been fed only on breast milk. Now it is formula provided by Wateen's aunt, Ala'a Abu Mukhaimar.

Ala’a Abu Mukhaimar, Sister Killed (through interpreter):

After the airstrike, she doesn't recognize us. And a while ago, there was an airstrike and she started to scream.

Nick Schifrin:

Wateen is injured, but at least she's alive. There is no word for the parent who loses a child.

This is Khan Yunis in Southern Gaza this morning, the aftermath of what Palestinians call an Israeli airstrike on a residential building. Down the street, residents refused to leave this site. And Abdullah Teish refused to leave his daughter's body. A neighbor provided a final goodbye kiss.

Abdullah Teish, Daughter Killed (through interpreter):

I don't want to let her go. This is my daughter. I want as much time with her as I have before we bury her.

Nick Schifrin:

He embraces her all the way to Khan Yunis' Nasser Hospital, even though she will never again embrace him back.

Gaza's hospitals are also its morgues. Names are written on the body bags, including Meriam Ezat (ph) Saqallah. The Saqallahs say their loss is all consuming. They are burying 50 members of their extended family.

Ammar Al-batta, Relative of Saqallah Family: I have lost all my family, my entire family and the relatives that we hosted. We have lost them.

Nick Schifrin:

Israel says the strikes in Khan Yunis and all their strikes target Hamas terrorists, who operate from within residential neighborhoods.

Gaza today is defined by death and displacement. But as Muslim and Jewish religious texts teach, despite the darkness, whoever saves a soul, it is as if he has saved mankind. Rescue workers celebrated an airstrike survivor in the Nuseirat refugee camp, but only for a moment. The apparent target here was a home right above the Dalal Mall.

Shams Odeh:

Abu Dalal Mall was full of Palestinians, civilians, who came to the mall to buy their things, their food. Suddenly, the Israeli air force attacked the building, attacked the Dalal Mall.

Nick Schifrin:

In one of the stores, shoppers fled from an initial airstrike, and then, in the grocery store on the ground floor, shocked survivors ask for the war to end.

Man (through interpreter):

This is indescribable. God is greater than these disbelievers. God is greater than Israel. God is greater than America.

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General:

No party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law.

Nick Schifrin:

Twenty-five hundred miles away, the Security Council debated calls for a cease-fire.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres:

Antonio Guterres:

To ease epic suffering, make the delivery of aid easier and safer, and facilitate the release of hostages, I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.

Eli Cohen, Israeli Foreign Minister:

Mr. Secretary-General, in what world do you live?

Nick Schifrin:

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called for Guterres to resign.

Eli Cohen:

How you can agree to cease-fire with someone sworn to kill and destroy your own existence? How?

Nick Schifrin:

With no cease-fire in sight, the international focus is also on humanitarian aid. Today in Khan Yunis, residents lined up for single pieces of bread. President Biden said today, aid wasn't arriving fast enough.

Diab Faris says he had no food, water, or electricity.

Diab Faris, Khan Yunis Resident (through interpreter):

We are killing each other just for some bread. Think of us. Since this morning, children have not eaten. I swear no one has eaten. Think of us. Look at us and what is happening.

Nick Schifrin:

It is the grim reality of Gaza today that, when stalked by hunger and death, Gazan children write their names on their skin, so their bodies can be identified if buried under rubble.

And after this deadly day, Gaza, its parents and its kids are not alright.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.