On Thursday, day 468 of the ongoing genocide, Israeli missiles and shells killed and injured dozens of Palestinians, including many children and women, across the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip.
Despite a ceasefire deal set to begin next Sunday, the Israeli army escalated its bombing and shelling of various parts of the destroyed coastal enclave, inflicting dozens of casualties, including children, women, and elders.
At least twenty Palestinians were killed, and dozens were injured, when the army bombarded a residential block near the Engineers Association, west of Gaza City.
In addition, Palestinian rescue teams recovered the corpses of twelve Palestinians and rescued twenty injured, after the army bombarded many homes in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City.
Also in Gaza City, the army fired a missile at an apartment in the Daraj neighborhood, in the center of the city, killing four Palestinians and wounding many.
In addition, Palestinian Civil Defense medics recovered the bodies of five slain Palestinians and rescued more than ten wounded, after the army fired a missile at a home for the Khalifa family in the Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City.
Furthermore, a child was killed after the army fired a missile at a home on Moshtaha Street in Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
Israeli forces have struck the tents of displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah hours after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was announced on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/ElK1pBgg8P
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) January 16, 2025
In Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, the army fired missiles at a school where families sheltered, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding many others.
In northern Gaza, the army fired many artillery shells and dozens of live rounds at many homes in Jabalia town, causing many casualties.
In central Gaza, at least two Palestinians were killed, and many were injured when the army fired a missile at a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Five Palestinians were also killed when the army fired a missile at a car in the southern area of the refugee camp; among the slain Palestinians is a journalist, Ahmad Hisham Abu Ar-Roos, and his twin brother.
It is worth mentioning that the army continued to wire and detonate many residential buildings in the northern part of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Furthermore, several Palestinians were injured when the army targeted tents of displaced families near Bilal Mosque, west of Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza.
In related news, a Palestinian human rights defender, the head of Gaza and northern Gaza office of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Rafat Salha, succumbed to serious wounds he suffered when the army bombarded a home in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Salha was seriously injured Wednesday when the army bombarded the home, killing his wife, their sons and daughters, along with several members of his wife’s family (Shaqqoura), and succumbed to his wounds Thursday morning.
In southern Gaza, the army killed three Palestinians, including a journalist identified as Ahmad Shayyah, in addition to killing two Palestinians in an earlier bombing of Khan Younis.
Shayyah worked as a correspondent, editor and producer with various media agencies; his death brings the number of slain Palestinian journalists to 205.
In Rafah, in Gaza’s southernmost part, Israeli bombing and shelling killed at least 12 Palestinians and injured dozens in 24 hours.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Ministerial Cabinet and Government are scheduled to convene, Thursday morning, to approve the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
Israeli sources reported that the 11 Cabinet ministers have been invited to meet at 11 a.m. Subsequently, the full Israeli government, consisting of 33 ministers, is set to convene to approve the agreement.
Israeli daily Maariv stated, “There is a significant majority in the Cabinet and government supporting the agreement.”
Israeli Channel 12 also reported that there is a substantial majority in the government backing the ceasefire agreement, which was announced on Wednesday evening in the Qatari capital, Doha, and is scheduled to begin on Sunday, January 19, 2025.
Watch: Family members and friends bid the last farewell to journalist Ahmed Al-Shayah who was killed following an Israeli airstrike targeting a food distribution point in the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/FNhYjOTpKY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 16, 2025
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli army committed six massacres of families across the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, among them 62 slain Palestinians and 253 wounded, who were moved to hospitals.
Israel has now killed more than 46,707 Palestinians, including at least 17,841 children and 12,298 women, and injured at least 110,265, largely children, women, and elderly, in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
