Israeli attacks continued for the third consecutive day in the central Gaza Strip, marked by heavy artillery, airstrikes, and drone attacks.
Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, announced on Friday that they trapped an Israeli military convoy consisting of three Merkava tanks and two D9 bulldozers in a minefield.
The intense Israeli bombardment resulted in casualties and injuries across various areas in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces targeted residential buildings and homes in Nuseirat Camp, Gaza City, and Al-Maghazi Camp, and carried out airstrikes in Beit Hanoun and Tal Al-Zaatar.
Israeli airstrikes also destroyed homes in Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat camp. Additionally, agricultural lands in the Al-Fokhari area, southeast of Khan Yunis, were targeted.
In Rafah, a young Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire, while in the Nuseirat camp, the home of citizen Adham Thabet was hit, resulting in multiple injuries, including children from neighboring houses.
The escalating violence led to six Palestinian fatalities and 70 injuries in the northern Nuseirat camp alone, according to reports. A school serving as a shelter for displaced persons in the camp was also hit, hindering rescue efforts due to ongoing Israeli artillery fire.
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 33,686 Palestinians have been killed, and 76,309 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, AJA)