Some parents in Gaza are reportedly writing their children’s names on their bodies for fear they won’t be identified if they are killed.

Dr Abdul Rahman Al Masri, who leads the emergency department at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told CNN he had seen cases of names being written “on the legs and abdomen”. 

He said it shows parents feel “they are targeted at any moment and can be injured or martyred”.

Another hospital supervisor, who did not want to be named, called it a “new phenomenon that just started in Gaza”.

“Many of the children are missing, many get here with their skulls broken… and it’s impossible to identify them, only through that writing do they get identified.”

Hamas: Fuel blockade could have ‘grave consequences’ for kidney failure patients

A blockade on fuel in Gaza could have “grave consequences” for the lives of 1,100 kidney failure patients, including dozens of children, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.

Fuel supplies are running dangerously low after Israel imposed its blockade two weeks ago.

UN relief agency UNRWA told CNN that the region needs fuel “as urgently as water and food”, in a plea for it to be included in the limited supply of aid crossing into Gaza.

Number of Palestinians killed tops 5,000

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 436 Palestinians – including 182 children – have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours.

It also says the overall number killed since the start of the conflict now sits at 5,087, with a further 15,273 injured.

MEZIESBLOG is unable to independently verify the figures.