Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip – Israeli forces continue to pound the Gaza Strip on the 60th day of their war against the besieged coastal enclave.
The sky in the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza is gray following incessant Israeli ground attacks and aerial bombardments.
A fire breaks out in the middle of the street, strewn with rubble. But that doesn’t stop dozens of people from gathering at the site of a bombed building.
The crowd of men tries to rescue survivors and recover the bodies of those killed in the three-story Abu Musbih building bombed by Israel.
“We need stretchers,” shouts a man. “Someone, get us some stretchers.”
Near him lies the lifeless body of a man, almost entirely covered in debris. He is extracted by three men and taken on blankets which serve as stretchers.
Tuesday afternoon’s attack hit the building while around 150 people were inside, most of them families displaced from other areas of Gaza.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 45 people were killed and at least 50 others injured. Some dead remain buried under the rubble.
The injured were transported in civilian cars, tuk-tuks and ambulances to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Meanwhile, a World Health Organization representative in the Palestinian Territories said the situation in Gaza is “getting worse by the hour” as Israel steps up its bombardment of southern areas of the enclave .
“I want to make it clear that we are facing a growing humanitarian catastrophe,” said Rik Peeperkorn.
More than 16,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 7 and around 42,000 others have been injured.