On Thursday, Day 168 of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued the bombing of various parts of the devastated and densely populated coastal enclave, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.
Israeli missiles struck a home in the Nasr neighborhood, northeast of Rafah in the Gaza Strip’s southmost part, killing eight Palestinians, including three children and three women, in addition to injuring many Palestinians, some seriously.
The targeted overcrowded home contained families that fled their homes in northern and central Gaza.
The situation in Rafah is becoming grimmer by the hour as thousands of families are running out of water, and getting just some water for drinking is becoming almost impossible and requires waiting for hours, especially after fuel ran out and the Israeli bombing damaged infrastructure, including water pumps.
The Israeli army also bombed several homes in buildings in Deir Al-Balah and surrounding areas, in the Gaza Strip’s central part, causing many casualties.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army has repeatedly targeted water reservoirs and infrastructure since October 7, 2023, cut all fuel supplies and destroyed power generators, depriving 2.3 million in the destroyed Gaza Strip of basic services, in the coastal enclave that has already endured 17 years of siege.
In related news, Palestinian fighters said they engaged in heavy gun battles with Israeli soldiers surrounding the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, and added that the fighters, in the vicinity of the medical center, struck Israeli tanks and armored vehicles with anti-armor shells.
The Israeli army said its operations in the Shifa Hospital are ongoing, and added that the soldiers arrested hundreds of Palestinians, including alleged fighters and what they called senior Hamas leaders, while the sources at the hospital said the soldiers killed thirteen patients, and abducted many patients.
The invasion of the Shifa Hospital started five days ago and has already led to the death of about 140 Palestinians, while the soldiers also abducted 350, and the army is demanding the dozens of families remaining there leave the facility.
Medical sources also said the lack of electricity in the Shifa hospital has already led to the death of thirteen patients, including newborns.
The Israeli army also shot with several live rounds an elderly Palestinian man, Freij Wasfi Lufti Hallaq, in the Shifa Hospital yard, and left him bleeding until he died.
After pictures were released by the Israeli army of what it called dozens of fighters who were reportedly taken prisoner in the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, senior sources said Israel is deceiving the world by releasing pictures of dozens of Palestinians who are either not in the Gaza Strip, or those, including doctors and medical staff, who were previously abducted and released, and added that these Israeli publications, including various media outlets, are part of Israel’s psychological warfare and the attempts to deceive the world’s public opinion.
Tonight, the Israeli forces published photos of what they claimed to be members of the resistance whom they arrested from Al-Shifa Medical Complex. Upon initial examination, it became apparent that some of these individuals were not under arrest. Among them were a large number of… pic.twitter.com/O2NittqpLM
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 21, 2024
Commenting on the situation in the devastated Gaza Strip, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the situation in the coastal enclave is “worse than ever” and described what the Palestinians are facing as “unacceptable and a failure of humanity.”
In a statement to the media ahead of the European Summit in Brussels, which continues Friday, Borrell emphasized that this is “not a crisis resulting from an earthquake or floods, but rather the result of bombardment by the Israeli army.”
A video posted by photographer Doaa Albaz shows Palestinians, including children, gathering leftover food scattered around inside a building in Gaza, reportedly left behind after an Israeli bombing. pic.twitter.com/8i8C8J1wWt
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) March 22, 2024
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, stated that “accountability is more needed than ever’ over Israeli war crimes in Gaza.”
It is worth mentioning that, in its draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council, the US calls for a ceasefire (although it previously Vetoed a ceasefire resolution that got a majority vote), and also calls for releasing all Israelis held in Gaza, but fails to call for releasing Palestinian political prisoner, including women and children.
Graphic scenes: An Israeli army drone pursued four civilian youths who attempted to reach their destroyed homes and killed them with missiles in Khan Younis at the start of last February. pic.twitter.com/6aQv5VLkdK
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 21, 2024
It also “affirms Israel’s right to self-defense,” but also fails to grant that internationally guaranteed right to the Palestinians, resisting the ongoing Israeli occupation and colonialism.
The US also considers its move as “addressing this conflict and its humanitarian impacts,” without actually calling on Israel to end its violations of International Law, the various UN resolutions, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, by ending its occupation, its illegal colonialist activities and all the violations it commits daily against the Palestinians, their homes, lands and their basic rights in the occupied territories.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the army committed seven massacres of Palestinian families, killing 65 and wounding 92, mostly women, children, and elderly.
Israel has now killed more than 32.000 Palestinians, including about 9.000 women and 13.000 children, in addition to more than 10.000 who remain missing, buried under the rubble of bombarded homes and buildings, and injured more than 74.188, mostly children, since October 7, 2023. Among the slain Palestinians are 4.257 schoolchildren, 227 educators, and 112 journalists.
ِAl-Jazeera reported that the Israeli army also killed 685 medical workers, and injured 902, in addition to damaging 99 medical facilities, including 30 hospitals.
The army also destroyed 76 ambulances; only 9 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still open, although partially functioning, bombed, and lacking essential supplies.
More than %90 of the Gaza Strip population is now displaced, facing famine, diseases, deadly shortages of humanitarian supplies, and lacking access to clean water.
The Israeli army also bombed 154 UNRWA facilities, and destroyed 65.000 residential units, in addition to damaging more than 290.00.
Israel also destroyed 281 governmental schools and 65 UNRWA-run schools and damaged or destroyed %90 of governmental schools, educational facilities, and their various departments.
