Israel’s military offensive against the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip left more than 170 dead and 300 injured during the last 24 hours, while fighting intensifies in the south of the Palestinian enclave, official Palestinian sources reported this Saturday.
“The Israeli occupation committed 18 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 174 deaths and 310 injuries during the last 24 hours,” said the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas.
In total, there are 26,257 dead and 64,797 injured, most of them children and women, since the war broke out more than three and a half months ago, according to the source.
Added to them are thousands of missing people under the rubble and other places in the devastated Strip, since “the occupation prevents ambulances and civil protection teams from reaching them,” he says.
“Several bodies and wounded arrived at Al Aqsa hospital after intense Israeli air strikes against homes in Deir al Balah,” in the center of the enclave, reported the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.
In addition, “at least 28 civilians were killed and others injured as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombing of the city of Khan Younis” and another “nine civilians, including women, were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed several homes” in the surrounding area, it added. .
Khan Younis is the main region in the south of the Strip and a Hamas stronghold, where Israeli troops are focusing their offensive, especially around the main hospitals, Nasser and Al Amal, from where, according to Israel, militants operate.
The Israeli Army confirmed that its troops “continue to eliminate terrorists and locate weapons and military equipment in the heart of Khan Younis.”
Gaza Health has been denouncing for days that “the Israeli occupation is besieging the hospitals of Khan Younis, completely paralyzing them while committing crimes of genocide and preventing the movement of ambulances.”
According to this source, the Naser hospital – where some 150 members of medical staff operate who care for 350 patients – and the Al Amal hospital are “without food and without security”, as well as lacking anesthetics or painkillers.
The U.N. humanitarian agency, OCHA, said the Naser hospital, which currently houses some 18,000 displaced people, is operating “under minimal conditions, as it is surrounded by the Israeli army and is experiencing intense fighting, so it can no longer receive patients or supplies.”
These developments come a day after the UN International Court of Justice issued a ruling requiring Israel to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
This imposition of precautionary measures, which did not include a ceasefire, is due to an accusation of genocide against Israel – still ongoing – presented in December by South Africa.
The war has left 1.92 million displaced people in the Strip, 85% of the total population, who are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
These conditions could worsen following the announcement by several countries to suspend their funding for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which manages the distribution of humanitarian aid and was accused by the Israeli government of having among its staff those who participated in the Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war on October 7 and left some 1,200 dead and 250 hostages.
