'Israel' issues evacuation orders in Rafah amid rising Gaza death toll
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The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas condemns the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which killed children awaiting to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
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Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025 (AP)
The Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas has condemned the Israeli occupation's latest assault on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of several civilians, including children dressed in holiday clothes for Eid al-Fitr and families sheltering in displacement tents.
In a statement issued on Monday, Hamas described the attacks as further evidence of the Israeli occupation's "fascism and disregard for humanitarian values," particularly during the holiday period.
Hamas held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the ongoing war crimes being perpetrated in Gaza, attributing his actions to the absence of accountability and the international community’s failure to act. The movement urged free nations worldwide to mobilize and apply pressure on their governments to take urgent steps to halt the aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.
The statement also called on the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli regime to cease hostilities, return to previous agreements, facilitate prisoner exchange operations, and immediately end the bloodshed of Palestinian civilians.
Interior ministry warns of catastrophic consequences
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Interior Ministry denounced new Israeli evacuation threats issued on Monday morning, warning of an impending escalation in Rafah. The ministry said the Israeli occupation's threats to forcibly displace the remaining residents of Rafah under continuous bombardment would further deepen the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
“These renewed threats exacerbate the dire situation caused by 18 months of genocide, displacement, and repeated forced evacuations, all while the world watches in silence,” the ministry stated. It called on the international community and mediators to intervene urgently to prevent the mass displacement of Rafah’s residents.
The ministry further accused the Israeli regime of bearing full responsibility for the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza, urging international legal institutions to take immediate action against Israeli officials for war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
Moreover, in the midst of the violence, the United Nations said the blockaded strip's bakeries would run out of flour within a week. Agencies have cut food distributions to families in half, and markets are empty of most vegetables.
Repercussions of Israeli aggression
The Government Media Office in Gaza detailed the losses incurred by the health sector as a result of Israeli aggression since October 7, 2023, and they include:
- 1,402 medical personnel killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza;
- 111 civil defense personnel killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza;
- 362 healthcare workers arrested, including three doctors executed under torture in Israeli occupation prisons;.
- 26 civil defense personnel arrested by Israeli occupation forces;
- 34 hospitals burned, attacked, or forced out of service by Israeli occupation forces;
- 80 health centers rendered non-operational by Israeli occupation forces;
- 162 healthcare facilities targeted by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza;
- 15 civil defense headquarters and centers bombed by Israeli occupation forces;
- 142 ambulances bombed or targeted by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza;
- 54 fire trucks, rescue vehicles, rapid response units, or civil defense vehicles bombed or targeted by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza.
Relentless bombardment across Gaza
Israeli airstrikes continue to devastate multiple areas of Gaza, leading to a rising death toll. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 80 people were killed and 305 others were wounded over 48 hours, adding that hundreds remain trapped under the rubble and could not be reached by rescue teams.
The Ministry reported that since the renewal of the Israeli aggression on March 18, "Israel" has killed 1,001 people and wounded 2,359 others, with the toll since October 7, 2023, rising to 50,357 martyred and 114,400 others wounded.
According to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent, two people were killed and others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a group of civilians east of Jabalia, in northern Gaza.
In central Gaza, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack east of the al-Masdar village. Additionally, an Israeli quadcopter drone dropped an explosive device inside a UNRWA school sheltering displaced people in the al-Bureij refugee camp, injuring a child.
Moreover, one Palestinian was killed and others were injured in a bombing of a tent in the Al-Sawarha area, west of Al-Zawayda, in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli drone strikes also targeted three farmers east of the al-Maghazi camp, with reports indicating that rescuers were unable to reach them.
In the southern regions, at least six people were injured when an Israeli quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on civilians on Awni Daher Street in Rafah. Israeli forces also detonated several buildings in the area.
Further south, six Palestinians, including children, were killed and others were injured after Israeli warplanes struck a house on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street in central Khan Younis.
Moreover, three were martyred and others were injured as a result of Israeli shelling that targeted a group of citizens in the town of Aabasan al-Jadida, east of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Gaza bakeries could shut down within a week: UN
Gaza’s bakeries will run out of flour for bread within a week, the UN warned, with aid agencies cutting food distributions to families in half. Markets are empty of most vegetables, and many aid workers are unable to move around because of relentless Israeli strikes.
While humanitarian workers are stretching out the supplies they have, they are warning of a catastrophic surge in severe hunger and malnutrition. Unless the flow of aid is restored, food will run out completely eventually because the war has destroyed almost all local food production in Gaza.
The World Food Program said Thursday that its flour for bakeries is only enough to keep producing bread for 800,000 people a day until Tuesday and that its overall food supplies will last a maximum of two weeks. As a “last resort” once all other food is exhausted, it has emergency stocks of fortified nutritional biscuits for 415,000 people.
Fuel and medicine will follow, as hospitals are rationing antibiotics and painkillers. Aid groups are shifting limited fuel supplies between multiple needs, all indispensable.
