On Saturday, Day 169 of the ongoing Israeli genocide of the Palestinian civilians in the destroyed and constantly bombarded Gaza Strip, Israeli missiles and shells killed and injured dozens of Palestinians, including children, while five patients died at the surrounding and bombarded Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Medical sources have confirmed the death of five wounded Palestinians at the Shifa Medical Center in Gaza City, which remained surrounded by the army for the last six days without water, food, or basic medical supplies.
They voiced an appeal, calling on various international institutions and human rights groups, to intervene and save the lives of the wounded, the patients, and the families at the hospital, which has also been frequently targeted by the army.
Media sources in Gaza said the army burnt various branches of the Shifa Medical Center, and conducted summary executions of many Palestinians, in addition to forcing hundreds of patients and the wounded into an old, crumbling building that is not even fit for healthy people, let alone the wounded and the sick.
|Updated From Day 169: 82 Killed in Past 24 Hours; Executions at al-Shifa Hospital|
Journalist Jihad Abu Shanab in Gaza City said the army is surrounding and isolating the patients and medical staff, and more than 73 families (295 Palestinians, mainly children, and women), at the Shifa Hospital, and added that Israeli army sharpshooters are targeting anyone who tries to leave, or any person their see with their sniperscopes.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Abu Shanab said the situation at the destroyed and isolated medical center is disastrous and added that the army repeatedly stated its intentions to bomb and burn every part of the hospital that ran out of basic supplies.
Abu Shanab added that the isolated families at the Shifa Medical Centers are unable to leave amidst the intensive Israeli bombing and constant violations against the hospital and its surrounding areas.
The hospital tried to contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRS), especially regarding isolated families that are facing Israeli attacks in buildings of the medical center, but the Red Cross said they were unable to do anything because the families are now in areas that were declared “closed military zones” by the Israeli army and are under constant fire and shelling, which prevents the reach of any help or aid.
The Israeli soldiers also bombed Al-Helu Hospital, situated just meters away from the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, causing many casualties, including fatalities, and burying patients and residents under the rubble.
In addition, the army fired missiles and shells at many homes and apartment buildings in Gaza City, causing many casualties.
Also, the army fired missiles and shells at homes in the Shati’ refugee camp, west of Gaza City, causing many casualties.
Furthermore, the army continued its targeting of hungry Palestinians awaiting urgent humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Junction, east of Gaza City, killing at least nineteen and wounding more than twenty-three.
Media sources said the soldiers fired tank shells and barrages of live rounds at the Palestinians while awaiting the arrival of wheat and basic food supplies and added that many of the slain Palestinians remained on the ground after the medics were unable to reach them.
In central Gaza, the army killed at least eight Palestinians and injured many others, after firing a missile at their home in the Al-Haker area in Deir Al-Balah.
Three Palestinians were also killed, and several others were injured, when the army fired a shell at them, in the southern area of Deir Al-Balah, while at least one Palestinian was killed and one was injured, east of the Al-Boreij refugee camp.
The army also fired artillery shells at homes and buildings in the Al-Mughraqa town, north of Nusseirat in central Gaza.
Various areas in Khan Younis and Rafah, in southern Gaza, were subjected to extensive Israeli bombing and shelling, causing many casualties, especially in the northeastern areas of Rafah, and the northern and southern areas of Khan Younis.
In Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, at least two Palestinians were killed, and many were injured after the army fired shells at them.
Abu Obeida, the spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said an Israeli man, 34, held by the group in Gaza, has died due to the lack of medicine and food resulting from the constant Israeli bombing and the siege.
Abu Obeida added that the resistance in Gaza has repeatedly warned that the Israelis, including the soldiers held in the coastal enclave, face the same conditions and the suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people, including the constant bombing, famine, and the lack of medical supplies.
He also stated that the Israeli leadership does not seem to be interested in the safe return of its citizens, including the captured soldiers, and is deliberately killing them to avoid future prisoner-swap agreements.
On the political level, Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal presented through mediators, calling for ending the war on Gaza and the withdrawal of its soldiers, in addition to allowing the return of displaced Palestinians. The proposal included a prisoner-swap agreement, and the release of 40 Israeli captives.
Israel is also refusing a demand by Hamas to release 30 Palestinian detainees who are serving live terms in Israeli prisons, in exchange for every female Israeli soldier, and instead said it will just release five as long as Tel Aviv is the side determining their identities.
The Palestinian Health Ministry stated, on Saturday, that the Israeli army committed seven massacres against entire families in the Gaza Strip, killing 72 and wounding 114, mostly children and women.
Israel has now killed at least 32.142 Palestinians, and injured more than 74.412, mainly women, children, and the elderly, while thousands of Palestinians remain missing, largely buried under the rubble of bombarded homes and buildings, and in alleys, across the coastal enclave.
