The health ministry in Gaza said on Monday that the Israeli occupation army as committed three massacres in different areas of the Gaza Strip in the 24 hours from Sunday through to Monday, killing at least 40 civilians and injuring over 75 others, while a large number of victims are still under the rubble of bombed buildings or lying on the roads.
In a statement, the health ministry said that at least 115 of the victims, including 40 dead, were transported to hospitals.
They added that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardments and shooting attacks, which started on October 7th 2023, has now officially climbed to 38,193 , and the number of wounded has surged to 87,903 people.
Besides the large number of casualties and the huge displacement of people, basic food, fuel, water and medical supplies have run out for the 2.3 million residents in Gaza due to the tight Israeli blockade and the massive destruction of infrastructure and facilities.
‘Yesterday, we were in the Old City area of Gaza City and received evacuation orders, and indeed we went to the Tal al-Hawa area, and at night, the Israeli army called the residents in preparation for the bombing of a residential tower, and after the shelling, we were surprised by the incursion of Israeli vehicles into the industrial area,’ said Imad al-Zanoun.
‘We could not sleep and stay in the place. We left the area under the presence of Israeli vehicles. Now I will try to return to the Old City despite the dangers, and if it does not work, I will face another area,’ al-Zanoun added.
He spoke of the ferocity of the Israeli shelling with ‘ire belts’ on the Tal al-Hawa area and the western and southern residential neighbourhoods of Gaza City since Sunday night.
The video footage included the continuous sounds of gunfire and aircraft.
‘Yesterday, the Israeli army expanded the military operation under intensive bombardment, and we fled with thousands of people and went to the Tal al-Hawa area, but at midnight, we experienced a large bombardment, and now we return to our homes in light of the great danger.
‘We could not sleep at night due to the intensity of the shelling,’ Siham al-Zanoun said.
On Sunday, Red Crescent paramedics recovered the bodies of three handcuffed Palestinian civilians after they were executed in cold blood in the east of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The slain citizens were detainees kidnapped recently from Gaza, but the Israeli army shot them dead immediately after releasing them at the Karam Abu Salem border crossing in the southeast of Gaza.
The Israeli army also deliberately fired an artillery projectile at a number of other detainees after releasing them in eastern Rafah, injuring a number of them.
All the detainees were civilian workers who were responsible for guarding aid trucks and were kidnapped several days ago while they were waiting for aid trucks in the area of Gaza Airport, east of Rafah.
The displacement camps in the Gaza Strip are facing a new epidemic disaster, especially with the spread of the highly contagious skin disease ‘scabies’.
This has spread due to the accumulation of sewage water between the tents and the lack of personal hygiene caused by the shortage of water and cleaning supplies.
The health situation of the Palestinians in the camps is becoming increasingly precarious due to the acute shortage of medicines and medical supplies, leading to complications for the sick and injured.
The situation is exacerbated by the scarcity of water and cleaning supplies like soap and bathing facilities, resulting in a lack of personal hygiene amid the overcrowded conditions in the displacement camps, which is causing the rapid spread of skin diseases in particular.
Doctors have confirmed that thousands of patients in the Gaza Strip are facing death due to the shortage of medicines and the Israeli occupation’s destruction of most of the healthcare system in the Strip, because during their attacks they have deliberately targeted Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, putting most hospitals out of service according to official and United Nations reports.
Sewage water is accumulating between the tents of the displaced persons in the ‘Al-Nakhil’ shelter centre in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the centre of the Strip, attracting flying insects, primarily mosquitoes, as well as crawling worms and other insects into the tents of the displaced.
The director of the medical centre in the shelter centre, Sami Hamid warned of a new environmental disaster in the displacement camps regarding the spread of scabies
‘The displacement camps are facing an epidemic disaster regarding the scabies disease and its spread due to the tremendous population density.’
He attributed the spread of scabies to ‘the formation of sewage water pools, which are a fertile environment for the propagation of insects, especially as they haven’t been sprayed with chemicals for nine months’ – since the beginning of the Israeli attack and the tightening of the sanctions and the siege.
Hamid said: ‘For nine months, no local, international or civil entity has pumped sewage water to the treatment stations due to the power outage, nor has it sprayed the sewage water accumulations and pools, which led to the spread of scabies.’
The director of the medical centre added that the health stores are suffering from the depletion of about 13 types of treatments for skin diseases, describing the availability of any medicines and medical treatments for skin diseases in the Gaza Strip as a miracle.
It is worth noting that the medical authorities announced last June the loss of 70 per cent of the list of essential medicines from the health stores, warning of the imminent depletion of medicines and medical supplies for specialised diseases such as cancer and kidney failure.
Last Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation forces bombed a group of citizens while they were filling water in the Zeitoun neighbourhood south of Gaza City, killing 10 of them and injuring 17 others, their only fault being that they went out to search for a sip of water.
Gaza water wells and desalination plants have been targets for strikes by the Israeli occupation army, with most of them taken out of service, while many people, according to United Nations reports, are forced to drink unfit water.
In the central Gaza Strip there are harsh conditions at the only desalination plant, with hundreds of cars and animal-drawn carts waiting their turn to fill up with water.
Workers at the plant say that the plant is not operating at full capacity due to the lack of fuel, and its complete reliance on other energy sources.
They explain that the total work of the station and what it produces does not meet a third of the needs of the residents and the displaced people in the centre of the enclave, amid the continued tragedy of displacement while the occupation army continues the war of genocide.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the Israeli leaders have announced the cutting of water and food supplies as part of a starvation war, in an attempt to subdue the Palestinians and commit genocide against them.
What adds to the suffering of the citizen amidst the war is the horrific rise in water prices, where the price of a gallon (16 litres) has reached seven shekels, equivalent to $2.
The rise in the price of drinking water has added burdens to daily expenses amid exorbitant inflation in the markets due to the Israeli genocide and the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Clean drinking water has become a dream for many people amid abject poverty, tight blockade, and the deprivation of the most basic necessities of life.
The global humanitarian group ActionAid for Palestine has warned that pregnant women and new mothers in the besieged and bombarded territory are facing malnutrition.
‘After nine months of crisis, the situation is dire, and urgent aid is crucial,’ said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator for ActionAid Palestine.
‘The displacement of up to a quarter of a million people from Khan Younis will only add further to the catastrophe.
‘Gaza urgently needs more aid, and a permanent ceasefire now.’
