ON the 13th day of the ongoing military offensive against the Gaza Strip, residents say invading Israeli forces committed ‘a new massacre’ in the Shujaiyya neighbourhood of Gaza City.
At least 50 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured in the eastern neighbourhood, medics said Sunday. The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are uncovered.
Medical sources said seven Palestinians were killed in other areas across the coastal enclave.
Spokesman of the Palestinian ministry of health Ashraf al-Qidra said rescue teams evacuated 44 dead bodies from destroyed houses. More than 200 injured people were taken to al-Shifa Hospital.
Palestinian medical sources in al-Shifa Hospital told Ma’an that the hospital was unable to cope with the large numbers of residents who fled their homes in Shujaiyya ‘under fire’ to the hospital for shelter. They highlighted that Sunday”s death toll hit 20 since midnight.
Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman of the Palestinian ministry of health, said that among Shujaiyya’s victims were family members of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya. He identified them as Osamah Khalil al-Hayya, his wife Halah and his sons Khalil and Umamah.
Al-Qidra highlighted that the last few hours were the ‘fiercest’ against Palestinian houses. Residents, he said, have been appealing for help since midnight saying that large numbers of people have been killed or injured in the houses as shells continued to hit them from all directions.
Al-Qidra highlighted that Israeli forces denied ambulances access to attacked houses to evacuate victims despite the uninterrupted efforts to coordinate through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
‘The Israeli occupation forces told the Red Cross Committee that Shujaiyya was a closed zone because of military operations, the medical official explained. As a result, added al-Qidra, Palestinian ambulance teams decided to take the risk and access victims despite the Israeli military orders.
Among the victims in Shujaiyya, according to al-Qidra, were teenage girl 14-year-old Hiba Hamid Sheikh Khalil and 38-year-old Muhammad Ali Jundiyya.
In Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources said three Palestinians were killed Sunday morning. Al-Qidra identified them as 23-year-old Hamid Abu Fuju, 26-year-old Ahmad Zanoun and 21-year-old Suhayb Abu Qurah.
In addition, an Israeli airstrike on the house of the Muammar family killed three brothers. Medical sources said Anas Yousif Muammar died of his wounds shortly after his brothers Muhamamd, 30, and Hamzah, 21, were killed in al-Juneina neighbourhood of Rafah. Ten others were injured in the attack.
Palestinian militias agreed to a Red Cross-backed plan that would create a two-hour ceasefire in Gaza to allow medics to treat wounded Palestinians. It also got the backing of Israel who has agreed to the humanitarian truce.
The ceasefire, requested by the International Committee of the Red Cross, lasted from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm (1030-1230 GMT) in the Shujaiyya district, where health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, an Israeli military spokesman said.
