Israeli forces intensify airstrikes on southern, central Gaza

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
5 Mar 2024 02:36
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Israeli occupation forces continue to bombard several areas across the Gaza Strip.

This picture taken from Rafah shows flares launched by Israeli occupation forces in the skies over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 4, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)

The Israeli occupation intensified its airstrikes and committed a number of massacres in the southern and central parts of Gaza on the 150th day of the aggression on the Strip.

In their latest massacre, Israeli occupation forces targeted a house near the European Hospital southeast of Khan Younis city, resulting in at least 10 martyrs and several injuries, according to Al Mayadeen's correspondent.

Our correspondent reported that the bodies of 30 martyrs have been retrieved from various areas in Khan Younis since Monday morning. Additionally, he mentioned that one Palestinian was martyred and others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Palestinian media outlets reported that the bodies of 33 martyrs and 110 injuries reached the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah since early Monday.

Local media also mentioned that Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian civilians while they were attempting to reach a truck of aid in the center of Gaza City, adding that Israeli artillery shelled areas east of Khuza'a town, east of Khan Younis.

'Death sentence' for more than 700,000 people in northern Gaza

Ismail al-Thawabtah, the director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, announced that, in a preliminary toll, over 71,000 people have been injured as a result of the Israeli war on the Strip.

Al-Thawabtah detailed in a statement that the Israeli occupation has committed 2,675 massacres against the Palestinian people in Gaza, resulting in 30,534 martyrs, including 13,430 children, 8,900 women, 364 doctors and medical staff, 48 civil defense personnel, and 132 journalists.

He also noted that "Israel" has committed 19 types of war crimes and crimes against humanity within its continuous savage aggression on Gaza.

The official warned of famine in northern Gaza amid the ongoing aggression and blockade, emphasizing that the Israeli occupation military is preventing the entry of humanitarian aid to the citizens there.

He also pointed to the continuous Israeli targeting of medical facilities in the Strip, which constitutes a war crime.

Al-Thawabtah deemed the suspension of aid delivery to northern Gaza a "death sentence" for more than 700,000 people, holding "Israel" and the United States responsible for the continuation of the starvation policy. He added that the US administration and the UN Security Council also bear full responsibility for the ongoing human rights abuses in the Strip.

The director of the Government Media Office called on the world to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop the genocidal war on Gaza and urged the immediate and permanent opening of the Rafah crossing to bring in the accumulated aid and fuel to the Strip.

He also called on all humanitarian institutions to immediately resume work in the north due to the worsening humanitarian situation there.

Over 700,000 people suffering from infectious diseases

This comes as the war enters its sixth month, with the Israeli occupation forces destroying and targeting over 1,000 educational institutions, mosques, churches, and hospitals. Additionally, nearly 200 archaeological and heritage sites have been destroyed in an attempt to erase Palestinian history and geography that predates the Israeli occupation by centuries, according to the Government Media Office.

The Office highlighted that the preliminary direct losses of the war on Gaza are estimated at $15 billion, with over 360,000 residential units destroyed, adding that there are approximately two million displaced people still living in hundreds of government and non-government displacement and shelter centers in harsh and tragic living conditions.

It emphasized that the displaced people lack food, water, and medicine, with over 700,000 of them suffering from infectious diseases due to harsh displacement conditions and the absence of dedicated services for refugees and displaced persons from international organizations. Moreover, around 17,000 children are living without one or both parents as a result of the Israeli aggression.

Elsewhere, the Media Office mentioned that the number of children who died due to malnutrition and the lack of treatment has risen to 16, following the death of a child at the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah earlier.