Israeli forces killed at least 111 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources, as Israeli strikes continued to pound targets across the Strip.
The majority were killed by an Israeli strike on a residential building in the northern city of Beit Lahia that was sheltering forcibly displaced families. Gaza’s Government Media Office said 72 Palestinians were killed in the strike, although the number isn’t confirmed. The Health Ministry said nearly 30% of the victims of the massacre were children.
Beit Lahia is one of the cities where Israeli forces have been conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign, forcing Palestinian civilians to flee under the threat of death. Beit Lahia, Beith Hanoun, and Jabalia have been under a complete Israeli siege since early October.
Israeli strikes on Sunday also hit the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza. Middle East Eye reported that at least 10 were killed in Bureij. According to WAFA, at least four Palestinians were killed in Nuseirat.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily death toll update, which it releases about mid-day Gaza time, that at least 47 Palestinians were killed and 139 were wounded in the previous 24-hour period. The toll only includes dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals and morgues, and rescuers have been unable to access certain areas in the besieged northern cities.
“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the Health Ministry said on Telegram. The ministry said the violence brought its death toll since October 2023 to 43,846 and the number of wounded to 103,740.
A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza estimated in an open letter to President Biden in October that the US-backed Israeli bombing campaign and siege have killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, including over 60,000 who have starved to death. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who led the letter, told Antiwar.com in a recent interview that the estimate was the bare minimum they came up with by looking at the available data.
The US continues to support the genocidal slaughter by providing military aid to Israel. Last week, a UN panel said Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, and Human Rights Watch said Israel was carrying out ethnic cleansing, but the US denied both charges to ensure weapons shipments continue to flow.