At least 28 Palestinians, including children, were killed in an Israeli strike on another school-turned-shelter in the northern Gaza Strip, a health official said, as Israeli forces continue their ground attack in the region.
Thursday’s attack on the ravaged area, which has been under siege for nearly two weeks following a new Israeli ground offensive, injured another 160 people, according to Palestinian health official Medhat Abbas.
“There is no water to put out the fire. There is nothing. It’s a massacre,” Abbas said. “Civilians and children are killed and burned under gunfire. »
The Israeli military, without substantial evidence, said the strike targeted Hamas fighters and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups. He said the fighters were operating from the Abu Hussein school in Jabalia, which served as a shelter for displaced people.
Hamas strongly denied the claim that it was using the school run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) for combat purposes and said in a statement that the allegations were “nothing wrong.” ‘other than lies’, adding that it was ‘a systematic policy of the enemy aimed at justifying its crime’.
Earlier Thursday, Palestinian health officials said at least 11 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Gaza City, while several others were killed in areas of central and southern Gaza.
Images broadcast by Palestinian media from the Abu Hussein school showed smoke rising from tents catching fire, as many displaced people evacuated the injured, including children, to ambulances.
Residents of Jabalia said Israeli forces blew up groups of houses by shooting from the air, from tanks, and placing bombs in buildings and detonating them remotely.
The area has been a target for the Israeli army for two weeks. The UN estimates that some 400,000 people are stuck in northern Gaza and have been unable to leave due to intense bombardment, Israeli snipers and ground troops.
Since the last incursion, northern Gaza, including Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon, has been completely sealed off. Israeli troops have cut off the area, allowing no food, drink or medicine to enter. Local authorities say people are starving.
Doctors at Kamal Adwan, al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals demanded a humanitarian corridor and refused to leave their patients despite evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army.
“Punish us”
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the scene at Kamal Adwan Hospital after the latest attack was “horrific”.
“The injured were picked up on animal-drawn carts or civilian vehicles at the bomb site, arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital and are on the floor of the emergency department,” Mahmoud said.
“The scene is horrible. They cannot cope with the massive influx of wounded arriving at the hospital.”
Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
The attacks mainly killed children and women. Many UNRWA-run schools were also damaged or destroyed.
Calls for evacuation have meanwhile fueled fears among Palestinians that the campaign aims to permanently evacuate them from northern Gaza.
“We have written our death notes and we are not leaving Jabalia,” one resident told the Reuters news agency.
“The occupation is punishing us for not leaving our homes at the start of the war, and we are not going there now either. They blow up houses and roads and starve us to death, but we die once and we don’t lose our pride,” said the father of four, refusing to give his name, fearing reprisals.
Northern Gaza, home to more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million people, was reduced to rubble by bombing during the first phase of Israel’s assault on the territory a year ago.
So far, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive, according to health officials.
The United States has told Israel it must take steps to improve the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza within 30 days or face possible restrictions on military aid.
The UN has long complained about obstacles to getting aid to Gaza and distributing it throughout the war zone, blaming the obstacles on Israel and lawlessness. The UN said no food aid entered northern Gaza between October 2 and 15.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military unit that oversees aid and commercial shipments said 50 trucks had entered northern Gaza.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director general of the government media office in the Gaza Strip, said Israeli comments on allowing aid into the enclave were misleading.
He said the Israeli army maintained a complete siege on the far north of Gaza for 170 consecutive days, closing all humanitarian access points. He said 342 people had been killed in the Israeli attack over the past 10 days.
