On Tuesday evening (day 277 of Israel’s aggression on Gaza), for the second time in four days Israeli forces bombed a school sheltering civilians who had been displaced from their homes by Israeli bombardment. At least 29 civilians were killed (mostly children) and 53 were injured on Tuesday evening, when the Israeli occupation forces bombed a school sheltering displaced people in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.
Local medical sources said that the Israeli occupation forces bombed the entrance to Al-Awda School, which houses displaced people, in the town of Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, which led to the killing of at least 29 people and the injury of 53 other citizens.
Medical sources said the number of casualties, especially fatalities, is likely to increase due to serious injuries, and the fact that many are under the rubble.
According to the Quds News Network, “Video footage from the school shows dozens of displaced families in the courtyard of the school cheering for children playing football before an Israeli strike targeted the school. Dead bodies, many of which were torn to pieces, appear scattered in the scene afterward.
“The Israeli army has committed several massacres in less than a day in central Gaza Strip, resulting in 60 victims, most of whom are children and women.”
🚨HORRIBLE: Footage shows the final moments of displaced people at Abasan School in eastern Khan Younis/south #Gaza Strip , playing football in the schoolyard before the Israeli army bombed them, resulting in a horrific massacre that killed dozens and injured hundreds. pic.twitter.com/tyXN2hJI48
— Nour Naim| نُور (@NourNaim88) July 9, 2024
This follows a similar bombing of a school in al-Nusseirat camp, in central Gaza, on Saturday, which resulted in the deaths of 16 — mostly children.
Israeli authorities have attempted to justify these aerial bombardments of crowded makeshift refugee camps by claiming that ‘Hamas fighters’ had sheltered in these locations, and therefore they were justified in attacking the civilian camps. This is despite a lack of evidence that any fighters were present. In addition, the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, prevents nations from attacking civilians to target militants.
On his part, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) chief, said the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital and the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital, in Gaza, have been forced to shut down due to the lack medical supplies.
He added in a post on Twitter that the patients “either self-evacuated, were given early discharge or referred to Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals, which are suffering shortage[s] of fuel, beds and trauma medical supplies.”
Al-Jazeera English stated that senior American officials are in Cairo for indirect talks as part of the efforts to reach a ceasefire deal, and added that the White House said that there are still gaps between Hamas negotiators and Israeli officials. According to Quds news, Israeli officials involved in the talks of the prisoners’ exchange deal said that they were surprised by Netanyahu’s new conditions, which they said pose difficulties for talks with Egypt regarding the future of the Philadelphi Corridor following the Israeli invasion of Rafah, and further complicate the talks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent — the main operator of ambulances in Gaza — said that its crews are receiving dozens of humanitarian distress calls from Gaza City, with no ability for its ambulance crews to reach them due to the danger of the targeted areas and the intensity of the shelling there.
Field reports from Gaza indicate that the conditions of the population are extremely tragic, and the occupation forces continue to target residential areas and to displace citizens from their places of residence and from shelters.
The Israeli occupation forces have continued their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, which has resulted in the martyrdom of more than 38,243 citizens, the majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of more than 88,033 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble .
updated from:
Day 277: New Bombings in Rafah, Deir al-Balah
Published on: Jul 9, 2024 at 09:31
On Tuesday, day 277 of the Israeli aggression against the entire civilian population of the Gaza Strip, pre-dawn bombings and artillery shelling targeted areas west of Rafah city, while the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex west of Gaza City and a school in Al-Nuseirat were subjected to violent raids.
A number of Palestinian civilians were killed and injured, on Tuesday morning, in a series of raids launched by Israeli warplanes and artillery shelling, targeting various areas in the Gaza Strip.
Regarding the latest events on the 277th day of the aggression on Gaza, a correspondent with the Wafa news agency said that a number of people were killed and others were injured when the occupation aircraft targeted a house in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
The Al Jazeera correspondent reported that the number of Palestinians killed in the bombing of a house in the new camp in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip rose to 7.
Health sources at the Baptist Hospital said that the occupation army forced medical staff to close the hospital after its surroundings were subjected to heavy gunfire from marches.
The sources said that the displaced people in the hospital and all the patients were forced to leave, which exposed them to great danger.
Al-M’madani Hospital reported that the Israeli army forced them to shut down the hospital after attacking its surroundings with drones, forcing the civilians and patients to leave hence endangering their lives.
Palestinian journalist Salama Juma’a Al-Hashash has just succumbed to his wounds from an Israeli airstrike that targeted his house north of Rafah city earlier today. pic.twitter.com/3Wbnh5nQNT
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 8, 2024
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that “the destruction in the streets of Khan Younis city, south of the Gaza Strip, is widespread everywhere, and the remaining buildings are hanging by a thread, and huge holes are found along the roads filled with rubble .”
UNRWA Communications Officer Louise Waterridge described the situation in Khan Yunis in a post on her X account, saying: “Everywhere you look, there is destruction .”
“Driving through Khan Younis today, any remaining buildings are hanging by a thread, huge craters line the rubble-strewn roads, and there is little hope for those who remain here, ” she added.
Waterridge also highlighted the familiar sight of desperate Palestinian families in Gaza taking shelter in a destroyed UNRWA school.
The Israeli occupation forces have continued their aggression on the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, resulting in the killing of more than 38,193 citizens, the majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of more than 87,903 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble.
This is an extremely low estimate of the actual number of casualties. According to a new report by The Lancet, “applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the [then] 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2 375 259, this would translate to 7·9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip. ”
