Dozens of people were injured in the attacks on Bureij, with Maghazi the only hospital still operating in an area “overflowing” with patients, according to a health official.
At least 15 people were killed in Israeli ground and air attacks on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza, a Palestinian health official said.
“More than 15 martyrs and dozens of wounded have arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the past hours,” a Health Ministry spokesperson told reporters from outside the hospital in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.
If the “aggression” against areas of central Gaza does not stop, the number of people killed is expected to rise rapidly, he said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only medical facility currently providing services to more than a million people in the region, the spokesperson said.
The facility does not have the capacity to accommodate more patients, he warned, adding that the hospital is “already overflowing with injured people”, many of whom are being treated on the floor.
An attack on another house in the nearby Maghazi refugee camp killed two people, according to officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Earlier, the Israeli military said in a statement that jets were striking Hamas targets in central Gaza while ground forces were operating “in a targeted manner, under the direction of intelligence services” in the area. ‘al-Bureij.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said medical staff at the hospital are overwhelmed by the influx of injured people.
“Doctors are running everywhere, looking for remaining medical supplies, including antiseptics and anesthetics, to carry out urgent life-saving operations,” Mahmoud said.
“We can still hear explosions of ongoing attacks and heavy machine gun fire in the eastern area of central Gaza – including in the densely populated Maghazi and Bureij camps,” he added.
“We are hearing from relatives of the victims that there are still entire families stuck in bombed homes in these camps.”
Is the ceasefire proposal failing?
Israeli forces carried out an offensive earlier this year for several weeks in Bureij and several other neighboring refugee camps in central Gaza.
Troops withdrew from the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza last Friday after weeks of fighting that caused widespread destruction in the already ravaged area. First responders recovered the bodies of 360 people, mostly women and children, a Gaza civil defense spokesman said.
The Israeli air raids and ground offensives across the Gaza Strip come as international mediators wait for Israel and Hamas to respond to a new ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal.
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said Tuesday that the group would not accept a deal with Israel that does not clearly provide for a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
“The Israeli response talks about opening the door to negotiations on everything without end or timetable… this confirms that Israel only wants one phase, where it will take its prisoners and then resume its aggression and war against our people,” Hamdan said.
“Until there is a clear position that the Zionist occupation is ready for a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal from Gaza… we cannot accept an agreement that does not ensure and does not guarantee a permanent ceasefire, full withdrawal and subsequent exchange of prisoners. ,” he added.
Announcing the plan last week, US President Joe Biden said the three-phase plan was proposed by Israel. However, Israeli leaders have since appeared to distance themselves from the proposal and pledged to continue fighting Hamas until the group is destroyed.
Israeli bombings and ground operations in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel is expanding its offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and has largely cut off the supply of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing widespread hunger.
More than a million Palestinians have fled Rafah, most to tent camps set up in central and southern Gaza.
