The Israeli army bombed a school sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing and injuring dozens, Al-Jazeera reported.
An Israeli airstrike on the Abu Asi School, operated by UNRWA in the Shati refugee camp, resulted in the deaths of at least 10 Palestinians and injuries to 20 others.
The attack on the Shati camp added to the rising death toll from ongoing Israeli bombardments in the besieged Palestinian Strip, which has reached 38 since dawn, according to medical sources.
Earlier, the Civil Defense recovered the bodies of four Palestinians and several injured individuals after an Israeli strike targeted a house near the Al-Shaabiya intersection in central Gaza City.
In additional attacks, three people were killed in the Shejaiyya neighborhood east of Gaza City, and another Palestinian was killed in the Sabra neighborhood in the south.
Palestinian sources also reported recovering the bodies of those killed by Israeli forces in the Al-Karama neighborhood, west of Gaza City.
In northern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported that Israeli aircraft targeted two houses near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia. Residents trapped in Jabaliya and Beit Lahia camps appealed for rescue after their homes were shelled.
Three Palestinians were killed last night in artillery strikes near the Musab bin Omair Mosque in Beit Lahia. Jabaliya camp also faced similar shelling, and Israeli forces demolished more residential buildings in the area.
Israeli tanks shelled the Al-Rayyan area northeast of Rafah, while other forces demolished residential buildings in the western part of the city.
Meanwhile, in Khan Yunis, four Palestinians were killed and others injured in an airstrike on a house in the Qizan Rashwan area in the city’s southwest.
Humanitarian Catastrophe
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, described the situation in northern Gaza as extremely dire. Basal told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces continue to destroy homes with their residents still inside, amid a six-week-long invasion.
The Civil Defense reported that its operations in northern Gaza have been forcibly halted for the past 25 days due to relentless targeting and aggression. Thousands of residents in these areas remain without access to humanitarian aid, medical relief, or essential services.
Basal urged the international community and humanitarian organizations to respond to distress calls and alleviate the suffering of thousands of civilians trapped in northern Gaza due to ongoing Israeli attacks.
He also called for serious efforts to restore the operations of the Civil Defense, including reactivating its disabled vehicles.
The Gaza City Municipality highlighted the worsening humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s continued refusal to allow cooking gas into Gaza and northern governorates.
Similarly, the Khan Yunis Municipality announced the suspension of fuel supplies required for operating water and sewage pumps, as well as waste collection and transportation services.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
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, 43,799 Palestinians have been killed, and 103,601 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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’.
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.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.