On Wednesday, Day 271 of the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in the destroyed and besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli army continued the bombing of various parts of the coastal region, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, while the Gaza European Hospital had to shut down after being constantly attacked, and running out of medical supplies.
Medical sources at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, said five Palestinians were killed and many were injured, all from the same family, after the army fired a missile at their home in the center of the city.
The sources said Kamal Awad Banat was killed along with his son Abdul-Salam, and his daughters, Raghad, Hidaya, and Rama, and added that his fourth daughter, Raw’a, remains under the rubble.
Palestinian medics and rescue teams also found the corpses of four Palestinians under the rubble of a bombarded apartment owned by the Al-Ghafri family in the Sa’ad apartment building on Nafaq Street in the Tuffah neighborhood, in Gaza City’s eastern area, before they were moved to the Baptist Hospital.
Furthermore, Israeli drones fired missiles at Palestinians in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, south of Gaza City, killing three Palestinians and wounding several others.
The medics and rescue operators also found the corpses of two Palestinians and evacuated seven wounded residents, after the army fired a missile at an apartment for the Zarad family near the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City.
Furthermore, the army fired missiles at farmlands in the Zarqa area, north of Gaza City, and at homes and buildings in the Sheja’eyya neighborhood, east of the city, causing many casualties.
Medical sources said Israeli missiles and shells have killed more than 30 Palestinians, including women and children, in several neighborhoods in Gaza City, on Wednesday; the figures do not include those who remain under the rubble.
In central Gaza, the army fired a missile at a home, west of the Nusseirat refugee camp, killing three Palestinians and wounding many, in addition to firing artillery shells at various parts in the northern area of the refugee camp.
In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, many casualties were reported when the army fired missiles near the Nasser Medical Center, and many artillery shells at buildings and areas in the eastern parts of the city.
In Rafah, in Gaza’s southmost part, medical sources have confirmed the death of fourteen Palestinians, and the injury of many more, due to Israeli bombing and shelling of various parts of the city.
Nebal Farsakh, PRCS Spokesperson, speaks in an interview with the BBC about the evacuation orders for 250,000 civilians in Khan Yunis. She said “families who are being forced to move again are exhausted, traumatized, and suffering from ongoing fear, stress, and uncertainty.”… pic.twitter.com/baOislhNZN
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 3, 2024
It is worth mentioning that the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis had to fully shut down after the army ordered the immediate removal of all residents, patients, and staff from the medical facility, and threatened to bomb it.
The forcible evacuation and removal orders are similar to those issued for the evacuation of all areas, east of Khan Younis, and the Al-Fukhari area where the hospital is located.
The staff and the locals had to remove medical machines, beds, and equipment and push them by hand, and by using carts for about 8 kilometers to the Nasser Medical Center, which is now partially operational after the army bombarded and invaded it about a month earlier.
The closure of the Gaza European Hospital compounds the suffering of the Palestinians who will now lose access to basic medical care, especially since the medical facility provided the Palestinians in the area with a wide array of medical services after other hospitals in southern Gaza either fully shut or partially shut down due to the bombing and the siege.
It is worth mentioning that Andrea De Domenico a UN top humanitarian official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt), said, “At the moment, we estimated that nine out of every ten people in the Gaza Strip had been internally displaced at least once, if not up to 10 times, unfortunately, since October.”
“We are again at the crossroads where the UN and its partners have to reset their operations,” Andrea, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian Territory, added during a virtual news conference.
He also stated that “the Palestinians the last nine months have been moved around like pawns in a board game, forced from one location to the next location,” and added, that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face extremely difficult living conditions, leading to more suffering and a greater need for humanitarian aid.
Andrea also stated that the United Nations will remain in the region, stressed that the distribution of aid is becoming more challenging every day, and said that Gaza’s population is 2.3 million and estimated that about 110,000 have left Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said only 15 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are still operational, although partially and with extremely limited means, and are facing a serious shortage in staff and medical supplies, including gauze, anesthesia, and antibiotics.
Israel has now killed at least 37.953 Palestinians and injured more than 87.266, mostly children, women, and elderly, in addition to the thousands of missing Palestinians, largely under the rubble, on destroyed streets, and in bombarded alleys, across the destroyed coastal enclave, since October 7, 2023.
