On Thursday, the Israeli army continued the bombing of the devastated, destroyed, starved, and densely populated Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians across the coastal enclave.
The Israeli army fired many missiles and shells at several parts of Gaza City, especially near the City Park area and the Al-Qattan Center, west of the city.
The army also exchanged fire with Palestinian fighters when the Israeli tanks and armored vehicles invaded the Sena’a area, in the western part of the city.
The Palestinian Civil Defense In Gaza announced Thursday its medics and rescue teams located the corpses of more than 60 Palestinians, including children and women, from the Sheja’eyya neighborhood, in the eastern area of Gaza City, after the Israeli army withdrew following two weeks of continued offensive.
It is worth mentioning that, as the army continued the invasion and the bombing of the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, for the fifth day, the Palestinian Civil Defense said about fifty Palestinians have been killed and many have been injured.
Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson of the Civil Defense in Gaza, said in a press conference that, besides the 60 corpses, dozens of slain Palestinians remain under the rubble, while the efforts continue despite the lack of equipment and the massive destruction.
During its offensive in Sheja’eyya, the Israeli army destroyed more than %85 of its homes and buildings.
The massive destruction that was left by the Israeli occupation forces in the Shejaeya neighborhood in Gaza city.
الدمار الذي خلفه الاحتلال في حي الشجاعية pic.twitter.com/zyEW3qRTOo
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) July 11, 2024
Basal stated that the entire neighborhood is now a disaster zone that cannot be inhabited until the removal of the debris and future reconstruction.
He added that the Israeli army also destroyed the clinic in the neighborhood, depriving more than 60.000 Palestinians of medical care.
The statements came after the army said various brigades, including the Yahalom Israeli Combat Engineering Corps, have concluded their offensive in Sheja’eyya.
Furthermore, at least one Palestinian was killed and two were injured when an Israeli military drone fired a missile at the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, in the western part of the city.
In addition, casualties were reported when the Israeli army fired a missile at a home in the Nusseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
In Rafah, in the Gaza Strip’s southmost part, several Palestinians were injured when the army fired missiles and shells a the Miraj area, in the northern part of the city.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the Israeli orders for the residents of Gaza City to leave the city would only exacerbate their suffering and called for the urgent need to protect these civilians and meet their basic needs, whether they are displaced or remain in their places.
During the daily briefing at the UN headquarters in New York City, Spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, called on all parties “to respect international humanitarian law,” and described the level of fighting and destruction in the Gaza Strip as “shocking,” as talks continue regarding a humanitarian truce, despite various obstacles.
Furthermore, Dujarric referred to the visit of the Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, Muhannad Hadi, to the Gaza Strip last Tuesday, the third visit to the coastal enclave, and stated that “the UN Coordinator briefed the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the results of that visit, which summarized the repercussions of the collapse of public order and safety on the borders of the Strip and within it.”
“Hadi saw groups of people carrying sticks waiting for aid trucks to arrive at the crossing to enter Gaza, all of which had been severely damaged by the Israeli attacks. He also saw bags of subsidized flour from the World Food Programme and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) scattered along the road outside the crossing,” Dujarric stated, “Khan Younis has been reduced to rubble as a result of the damage to residential buildings caused by the fighting there.”
The UN official also stated that the UN coordinator visited the International Medical Corps field hospital in the Deir al-Balah (in central Gaza), accompanied by the WHO Regional Director, Dr. Hanan H. Balkhy, and was briefed on the very difficult operating conditions at the hospital, including the inability to obtain basic medical supplies.”
He also said that Dujarric will be visiting New York next week to brief the UN Security Council, and to hold a press conference at the UN headquarters.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the war on Gaza will continue until the “release of all Israeli captives,” and the “total destruction of Hamas.”
He added that Israel will maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, an eight-mile-long strip of land between the Gaza Strip and Egypt which has been the latest focus of the Israeli army.
Netanyahu stated that any agreement would not prevent Israel from continuing the war on Gaza until it achieves all of its goals, including the release of all Israeli captives, stopping the smuggling of weapons to Hamas, and preventing the return of Palestinian fighters to northern Gaza.
“We will achieve all of our objectives, we will eradicate Hamas and return the hostages,” Netanyahu said, “Whenever am asked how long this war will go on, my answer is until victory, even if it takes time.”
كتائب القسـ.ـام تنشر مشاهد تصديها لجنود وآليات الاحتلال في حي الشجاعية شرق مدينة غزة#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/10dGYPbhzG
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) July 11, 2024
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said their fighters struck with rocket-propelled grenades and explosives several Israeli armored vehicles and tanks, south of the Sultan neighborhood, in Rafah, and several areas in Gaza City, in addition to firing shells towards Asqalan, Ashdod and Sderot.
Israel has now killed at least 38.345 Palestinians, and injured more than 88.295, in addition to the thousands who remain under the rubble, on destroyed streets and in alleys, in various parts of the Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023.
