ISRAELI forces launched a series of raids across Gaza and the occupied West Bank today as the Palestinian humanitarian crisis deepened.

Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling targeted areas east of the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza.

The Israeli army also continued raids across Hebron in the West Bank, with a number of Palestinians needing treatment for tear gas suffocation.

Since the so-called ceasefire with Hamas and other resistance fighters came into force in Gaza on October 10 last year, the Israelis have killed at least 586 Palestinians and injured another 1,558.

Israeli forces have violated the ceasefire agreement at least 1,620 times, according to the Gaza Media Office.

The Palestinians said that the Israelis have shot at civilians 560 times, carried out 79 raids on residential areas, bombed and shelled Gaza 749 times and demolished 232 Palestinian homes.

Some 50 Palestinians have also been taken into Israeli custody since the ceasefire.

Israel has also continued to block humanitarian aid from reaching Gazans and have created obstacles for Palestinians to get through the Rafah crossing between the enclave and Egypt.

Thousands have been waiting to use the crossing to access desperately needed medical treatment.

Many of those crossing have reported mistreatment by the Israelis as they attempted to cross at Rafah.

The Israelis have also continued to choke off access to aid for the Palestinian population.

The ceasefire agreement said that “full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip.”

Since the ceasefire, only 31,178 aid trucks have been allowed into the enclave, averaging 260 trucks a day, according to the Gaza Media Office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States today for a meeting which, while centred on the Iranian crisis, is also likely to include the next steps in the peace process.

Meanwhile, Australia demanded that criminal charges be brought in Israel over a 2024 Israeli air strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed the request to visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting earlier in the day.

Australian Zomi Frankcom was one of four World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by an Israeli drone on April 1 2024.

The other aid workers were an American-Canadian dual citizen, a Palestinian and a Polish national. Three British security staff were also killed in the same attack.

There was no immediate response from President Herzog, who visited the Australian capital, Canberra, today.