On Tuesday, day 256 of the ongoing Israeli genocide of the Palestinians in the destroyed, besieged, and starved Gaza Strip, Israeli missiles and shells killed and injured dozens of Palestinians across the coastal enclave.
In Gaza City, six Palestinians were killed, and many were injured, when the army fired a missile at a home for the Abu Safiyya family in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
The Baptist Hospital in Gaza City said it received the corpses of many slain Palestinians, and many injured, as a result of Israeli bombing and shelling of homes and apartments in several parts of the city.
Furthermore, one Palestinian was killed by live fire from an Israeli military drone in the Sahaba area, in Gaza City.
Several Palestinians were injured when an Israeli drone dropped a bomb at them in the Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.
Also, Palestinian medics found the corpse of a Palestinian woman, under the rubble of a bombarded home in the Saudi neighborhood, west of Rafah, in Gaza’s southmost part, and evacuated two wounded Palestinians.
Medical sources said the army killed at least nine Palestinians and injured many others, some seriously, while waiting for aid truck in Rafah.
Furthermore, many Palestinians were killed and injured when the army fired shells at tents used by displaced Palestinian families in the Al-Mawasi area, northwest of Rafah.
The army also fired shells at the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah, while Israeli military helicopters fired a missile at a home before many tanks advanced into an area in the center of the city.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army fired barrages of missiles and shells, while military helicopters fired bursts of live rounds, at various areas, west of Rafah, and also fired flares over the Saudi neighborhoods in the city, causing many casualties.
In central Gaza, the medics and locals moved two slain Palestinians and several injured to the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, after the army fired missiles at them near the Wadi Gaza bridge.
The Palestinian Civil Defense said at least thirteen Palestinians were killed, and dozens injured, in Israeli bombings of the Nusseirat refugee camp, on Tuesday.
“Children shot at. Hospitals bombed…All along with hateful, divisive, and dehumanising rhetoric.”
Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated his dismay with the war on Gaza during the UN Human rights council assembly in Geneva on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/NUegFFEWTk
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 18, 2024
On its part, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters targeted with short-range rockets Israeli tanks and vehicles near Netzarim, across the permitter fence southwest of Gaza City, while the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said its fighters targeted munition trucks and vehicles, in the same area.
Israeli daily Haaretz has reported that Israel has been in the spotlight because of the complicity of medical workers in the torture of Palestinian detainees.
The heat, the risk of disease, no water, the nightly israeli bombardments: understand the hardships and PUSH for a ceasefire | via @1james_elder pic.twitter.com/XC5TTA0hgd
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) June 18, 2024
Haaretz added that, since October 7, allegations of torture of Palestinian detainees witnessed a significant increase, and added that media reports indicated that at least 40 detainees have died in detention centers and 16 in prisons over the past eight months.
|Al-Jazeera: Action Must Be Taken on alleged complicity of Israeli doctors in torture|
The Government Media Office in Gaza warned that the lack of aid, especially food and nutritional supplies, is posing serious risks to the lives of 2500 children from malnourishment.
Competing on the devastating environmental impacts of the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said: “ The environmental impacts of the war in Gaza are unprecedented, according to a preliminary assessment published today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), exposing the community to rapidly growing soil, water and air pollution and risks of irreversible damage to its natural ecosystems. UNEP reiterates the call for an immediate ceasefire to protect lives and eventually help mitigate the conflict’s environmental impacts.”
“Not only are the people of Gaza dealing with untold suffering from the ongoing war, but the significant and growing environmental damage in Gaza risks locking its people into a painful, long recovery. While many questions remain regarding the exact type and quantity of contaminants affecting the environment in Gaza, people are already living with the consequences of conflict-related damage to environmental management systems and pollution today. Water and sanitation have collapsed. Critical infrastructure continues to be decimated. Coastal areas, soil, and ecosystems have been severely impacted. All of this is deeply harming people’s health, food security, and Gaza’s resilience,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.
“We urgently need a ceasefire to save lives and restore the environment, to enable Palestinians to start to recover from the conflict and rebuild their lives and livelihoods in Gaza.”
Israel has now killed at least 37.372 Palestinians and injured more than 85.452, mostly children, women, and elderly, in addition to the thousands of Palestinians who remain missing, largely under the rubble, on streets and in alleys, in various parts of the destroyed Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023.
