NEARLY four dozen Palestinian civilians, including many women and children, were killed in central Gaza as the Israeli regime launched another wave of assaults on the besieged territory yesterday.
Palestinian official news agency WAFA confirmed on Friday that 47 Palestinians lost their lives in intense overnight airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, the Nuseirat refugee camp, and al-Zawaida.
Medical sources reported that the deceased were transported to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, with many others wounded amid the catastrophic Israeli bombardments across residential areas.
‘Many victims were killed in Nuseirat, where Israeli airstrikes struck several homes, including shelters housing families displaced from other parts of Gaza,’ WAFA reported.
In the Nuseirat refugee camp, four brothers —Moataz, Mohammed, Omar, and Mustafa Mazan Abu Khadra — were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Their sibling, Mahmoud, had also perished only hours before, reuniting them in martyrdom with their father, who had previously fallen victim to Israeli bombings in central Gaza.
Rescue teams are still searching through the rubble to find missing persons trapped under destroyed buildings in the areas hit.
Earlier in the day, the Hamas resistance movement condemned the global community’s silence over the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
The condemnation came after Israel’s deadly airstrike on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which killed four people, including two children, and injured several medical staff members while igniting medical supplies and halting critical operations.
Hamas denounced the hospital attack, labelling it ‘a compounded war crime committed by the fascist occupation army within the framework of a comprehensive war of genocide against our resilient people in northern Gaza’.
In the past 24 hours, Israeli occupation forces have committed three brutal massacres against families in Gaza, killing at least 55 Palestinians and injuring 186 others, according to medical sources.
Local health authorities reported that since the commencement of Israel’s genocidal onslaught on 7 October 2023, the death toll among Palestinians has surged to 43,259, with a further 101,827 individuals wounded. Women and children make up the majority of the casualties.
Medical sources emphasised that emergency teams are struggling to access countless victims, including the deceased, who remain trapped under the rubble or scattered across roads within the devastated enclave.
The Israeli forces have continued to obstruct ambulance and civil defence personnel, preventing essential rescue operations. Despite mounting international pressure, including urgent ceasefire appeals from the United Nations Security Council and directives from the International Court of Justice to prevent genocide and address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel’s relentless attacks show no signs of abating.