THE Palestinian resistance is drawing a new path for the Palestinian people and will continue until the basic goal of ending the siege imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza is achieved, an Islamic Jihad official said on Friday.
The movement’s deputy secretary-general Ziad al-Nakhala said on Friday evening that ‘all options are open in the Gaza Strip, as the battle could last long and we should prepare for that if the enemy does not comply with our demands.’
Al-Nakhala said that the Israeli occupation should realize that ‘we can confront this offensive, proving that Israel’s arrogance is baseless.’
As Israeli attacks intensified on Friday evening, Imad and Qassim Alwan, both children, were killed as a result of artillery shelling in eastern Gaza City.
Rizk Ahmad al-Hayk, 2, perished in air strikes in Shawwa Square in Gaza City, while Sarah Muhammad Bustan, 13, was killed in Hayy al-Tuffah in Gaza City. Yusif Ibrahim Hasan al-Astal, 23, died of wounds he sustained in Khan Younis a week ago.
Palestinian militants injured three Israeli soldiers during fierce fighting in the northern Gaza Strip early Saturday, 19 July, as the ground invasion entered its second day.
The Israeli army said that the solders were ‘operating’ in the area of Beit Lahiya after midnight when a Palestinian gunman opened fire in their direction.
Beit Lahiya was the site of intense clashes on Friday, with eyewitnesses saying that Israeli forces were forced to pull out of the area due to stiff resistance from Palestinian militant groups.
The attack brought the number of Israeli soldiers injured since the beginning of the ground invasion to ten on Saturday, after seven were injured in fighting on Friday.
One Israeli soldier was also killed early Friday, although an initial army probe suggested the death was possibly a result of friendly fire.
The death toll on Saturday morning hit 38 after Palestinian civil defence rescue teams pulled ten bodies out of the debris of a home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as Israeli forces continued their military offensive against the Gaza Strip by air, sea, and land for the twelfth day.
Four members of a Palestinian family were killed in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon, as at least ten Israeli shells hit the area around the Beit Hanoun Hospital, injuring many.
Medics said that Mahmud Zuwaid, his wife Daliah, and their children Nagham, three, and Ruyah, two, were killed in the attack.
Palestinian medics said three Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids on the central Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon, as well, bringing the number of Palestinians killed on Saturday to 38.
Muhammad al-Ghalban was killed when an Israeli shell hit his home in Khan Younis on Saturday afternoon.
Palestinian medics said a Palestinian man was killed and several others were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Al-Qarara village in Khan Yunis mid-day Saturday.
Earlier, Muhammad Atallah Audah Saadat, 25, was killed and seven others were injured by Israeli raids on Beit Hanoun.
Three Palestinians from the same family were also killed in an Israeli attack in Beit Hanoun.
Spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said on Saturday morning that Israeli forces had ‘committed a massacre against Palestinian civilians’ in the Khan Younis district in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, killing eight.
He identified the victims as 20-year-old Yahya Bassam al-Serri, Muhammad Bassam al-Serri, 17, Mahmoud Ridha Salihiyya, 56, Mustafa Ridha Salihiyya, 21, Wasim Ridha Salihiyya, 15, Muhammad Mustafa Salihiyya, 22, Ibrahim Jamal Kamal Nasr, 13, and Khalid Nasr. Twenty people were injured in the same attack including some seriously injured.
On Saturday morning, Israeli forces bombed two houses, killing a child named Muhammad Ziad al-Ruhhal and injuring dozens more. Muhammad Abu Zaanouna, meanwhile, was killed during a strike on Abraj al-Mukhabarat in Gaza City, which also injured five others.
Al-Qidra also said that 27-year-old Raed Walid Laqan was killed in Khan Younis by an Israeli attack on a home belonging to the Tartouri family. Shortly after that, doctors announced the death of Khalid al-Qarra of wounds he sustained earlier on Saturday.
Israeli forces also killed 26-year-old Iyad Ismail al-Ruqab in the Bani Suheila village in the Khan Younis district. Amjad Salim Shaath, 15 succumbed to wounds he sustained in Moraj neighbourhood in Khan Younis. Two of his brothers, Ahmad and Muhammad, were killed in the same Israeli attack.
In addition, 30-year-old Said Ali Issa was killed in Juhor Addik neighbourhood in the central Gaza Strip near al-Bureij refugee camp.
34-year-old Ahmad Mahmoud Hasan Aziz was killed by an Israeli missile on his home in Abraj al-Nada in the northern Gaza Strip overnight as well.
Saturday morning’s deaths brought the total death toll of 12 days of Israeli military offensive in Gaza to 314 in addition to 2268 injuries, according to al-Qidra.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that at least 71 children, 25 women and 17 elderly people had been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza as of Friday night.
The Ministry of Health of Gaza warned on Saturday of a ‘real disaster’ due to power shortages, lack of power needed to operate machinery and a lack of necessary medical supplies and medicine.
The ministry’s general director of medical stores said during a news conference on Saturday that hospitals lack medicines needed for emergencies and operations.
Ashraf Abu Mahadi added that ‘there will be a major crisis if medications are not available, especially anesthetics and intensive care. Basic medical supplies are all out and what we have in our warehouses will not be enough for days.’
Abu Mahadi said that ‘what has been used during the Israeli offensive is multiple times more than what we have received in the last couple of days.’
The general director of the ministry’s maintenance department warned of the repeated power shortages and lack of necessary power to operate machines. he said that hospitals have been using generators for the last couple of days because of the power shortages.
‘Al-Shifaa Hospital uses one generator to operate. The al-Nasser medical centre still works on generators, and power shortages damage the generators because they cannot keep operating round the clock,’ Islam al-Hamadin added.
The European Hospital has been facing a blackout for 48 hours, he added. The Israeli military said on Saturday that two Palestinian militants attacked a patrol in the southern Gaza Strip but both died without causing any injuries to Israeli forces.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas fighters penetrated Israel through a tunnel and opened fire on an army patrol, injuring at least two soldiers.
At 1500 gmt, Al-Aqsa Satellite TV, Gaza, posted the following ‘urgent’ screen caption: ‘Ahmad Mahir Abu-Thariya and Abdallah Ghazi al-Masri were martyred in a Zionist shelling of Dayr al-Balah in the centre of the Gaza Strip.’
At 1608 gmt, the television posted the following ‘urgent’ screen caption: ‘Akram Mahmud al-Mutawwaq was martyred and seven others were injured in a Zionist shelling of his house in Jabaliya.’
A number of Palestinian groups on Saturday claimed responsibility for numerous missiles launched against Israeli military sites and multiple attacks launched on Israeli soldiers on the second day of Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The fighting on the ground in the northern and southern Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of at least 17 Palestinian militants, while more than a dozen Israeli soldiers have been injured.
The Hamas-linked Al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the shooting of three Israeli soldiers in northern Beit Hanoun and said that they had targeted Israeli military sites with 16 mortar shells as well as the Kisufim military site with two 107-missiles.
The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad declared that it had targeted Israeli military vehicles in eastern Khan Younis with six mortar shells and has targeted Israeli special forces with an RPG shell in northern Beit Hanoun.
The Brigades targeted Ashdod with two grad missiles, al-Sreij with two mortar shells, Kisufim and the Ein Hashlosha with 13 107 missiles, Zikim with six 107-missiles.
They also said that they had targeted Israeli forces with mortar shells in eastern al-Qarrara, Kibbutz Nir Isaac with three 107-missiles, and 25 mortar shells in northern Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
Al-Quds Brigades on Saturday clashed with Israeli special forces in eastern Beit Hanoun after they bombed an Israeli tank.
The Brigades also claimed responsibility for the bombing of an Israeli tank on Friday in northern Beit Hanoun. Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigades affiliated with the Popular Resistance Brigades claimed responsibility for clashing with Israeli forces in eastern Khan Younis and for targeting an Israeli bulldozer near Kisufim. The Brigades targeted Sderot, Netivot with six missiles, and Kerem Shalom with two 107 missiles.
The armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, National Resistance Brigades, targeted Israeli military vehicles in eastern Juhr al-Dik with two mortar shells.
The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, targeted Eshkol with a 107-missile.
Al-Mujahidin Brigades targeted Nerim and Nahil Oz with eight missiles.
