On Monday, September 2, day 332 of the Israeli assault on the civilian population of Gaza, Israeli forces continued their bombardment of civilian areas. At least 46 people were killed since dawn in various parts of Gaza, according to local sources. Israeli forces, for the second time in two days, bombed the St. Porphyrius Church, where Christian nuns and priests, along with many Christians and Muslim civilians, had taken refuge.
Among the victims of Monday’s attacks was the Director of the Central Laboratory Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, who was targeted in a direct airstrike to his home.
Update 23:24
Nine Palestinians were killed and others were injured on Monday in Israeli shelling of several areas in the Gaza Strip.
Each day, we receive reports from correspondents in Gaza of Israel directly targeting another professional medical personnel or journalist – usually one to two each day. This has been a relentless campaign over the past three months consistently, and the media and medical organizations in Gaza and the West Bank have called on international colleagues to pressure their governments to stop supporting the genocide currently occurring in Gaza. Today, the target was Dr. Mahmoud Al-Manama, Director of the Central Laboratory Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health:
🚨Breaking: The Israeli army has killed Dr. Mahmoud Al-Manama, Director of the Central Laboratory Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in a direct strike on his home in #Gaza.
— Nour Naim| نُور (@NourNaim88) September 2, 2024
As the director of the central laboratory, his team was partly responsible for the early detection of the polio outbreak in July – but the international pressure on Israeli authorities was insufficient, and the Israeli military would not allow the United Nations and World Health Organizations to take immediate action.
Also Monday, local sources reported that the occupation forces targeted a group of citizens northwest of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, which led to the killing of two citizens, one of whom was a child.
⚡️BREAKING:
The Israeli army bombed a water distribution vehicle in Gaza this morning while it was providing water to civilians sheltering at Bashir Al-Rayes School.
The attack happened as people were collecting water. pic.twitter.com/mqekhQ88Qf
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) September 2, 2024
Eight citizens were also killed and others were injured when the occupation aircraft bombed a pastry shop in front of the gate of Al-Fakhoura School in Jabalia camp, north of the Strip, which houses displaced civilians. They were transferred to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the camp.
8 civilians were killed including women and children.
Paramedics transferred two bodies and a number of wounded to Sheikh Radwan Clinic, north of Gaza City, after the Israeli occupation aircraft bombed the house of the Al-Anqah family in the Zarqa area in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of the city.
Israeli army released this woman today. She doesn’t know her name and can’t remember anything.. she’s currently in Al Aqsa Hospital- Deir Al Balah.
You can tell from the visible cuts and bruises that she underwent severe torture.
Israel has again bombed the third oldest Greek Orthodox church in the world, the Church of St. Porphyrius, where Palestinian Christian & Muslims were taking refuge. 🇵🇸#Gazapic.twitter.com/ow2S57RqYk
— Carole Tahan (@ctahan) September 2, 2024
Via @Abu_Salah9— Abier (@abierkhatib) September 2, 2024
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday that its teams visited a school in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip on the second day of the polio vaccination campaign, “suffering from horrific conditions for 15,000 displaced persons sheltering inside, and in need of a ceasefire.”
UNRWA spokesperson Louise Waterridge added in a video clip published by the agency on its account on the X platform: “On the second day of the polio vaccination campaign in central Gaza, our teams visited children from tent to tent and from classroom to classroom.”
She explained that “one of the UNRWA schools in Deir al-Balah is suffering from horrific conditions for the 15,000 displaced people taking shelter inside it .”
She stressed that “the children of the Gaza Strip need a ceasefire more than anything else .”
Earlier on Monday, UNRWA said its teams and partners had reached about 87,000 children in central Gaza on the first day of a polio vaccination campaign on Sunday.
This came according to the media director of the UN agency, Enas Hamdan, in a statement to the Anadolu Agency, in which she said, “The vaccination campaign entered its second day in the middle of the Gaza Strip”.
The Palestinian Minister of Health, Majed Abu Ramadan, announced that the vaccination campaign program will be as follows: from Sunday to Wednesday (1-4/9/2024) in Deir al-Balah Governorate, from Thursday to next Sunday (5-8/9/2024) in Khan Yunis Governorate, and from Monday to Thursday (9-12/9/2024) in Gaza and the North Governorate.
He stressed that the Ministry of Health is leading the vaccination campaign in the southern governorates of Palestine in cooperation with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and UNRWA, confirming that the vaccine is completely safe.
Medical sources reported that thousands of citizens went to the centers that were announced in the central governorate to vaccinate their children under the age of ten against polio .
On August 16 , UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a 7-day humanitarian truce to implement a polio campaign targeting 640,000 children, which was directly supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at the time.
This call came after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the registration of the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip, in a 10-month-old child. Three weeks before the outbreak, Palestinian medical experts had warned of the presence of polio in the sewage flowing through the camps where displaced Palestinians have been forced by the Israeli military.
Earlier this week, Israeli forces attacked a hospital that had begun launching a polio vaccination drive, causing injuries among patients and the shutdown of the program.
Over the months of the Israeli aggression on the Strip, health and human rights organizations warned of the spread of diseases and epidemics due to the shortage of medicines and vaccinations, and the difficult health and living conditions experienced by the displaced.
Israel bombed and destroyed the third oldest Greek Orthodox church in the world, the Church of St. Porphyrius, where Pa1estinian Christian & Muslims were taking refuge too! pic.twitter.com/arHMilaKvJ
— Rania (@umyaznemo) September 2, 2024
Israeli occupation forces have continued their aggression, by land, sea and air, on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has resulted in the killing of 40,786 citizens, the majority of whom are women and children, and the injury of 94,224 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.
Among the slain Palestinians are at least 16,589 children, 11,207 women, 182 journalists and 23 emergency responders, 885 medical staff, 82 Civil Defense staff, and 203 UNRWA staff.
Most experts estimate the death toll is much higher – and could be as high as 200,000, when counting both direct and indirect deaths related to the Israeli war on Gaza that began October 7th 2023 when 1100 Israelis were killed, including 700 civilians, inside Israel. Around 500 Israeli soldiers have been killed between October 7th and now – both in Gaza and on the Israeli border with Lebanon.
10:41 am update – Monday – Sep. 22:
After Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians on Sunday, killing at least 27, Palestinians continue searching through the rubble for survivors.
From the rubble of Safad School, bombed three times in a row: He’s still alive. pic.twitter.com/pHRlWfdmGN
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) September 1, 2024
On Monday before dawn, local sources reported that four Palestinians were killed and others were injured when Israeli warplanes bombed a house in Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The Wafa news agency added that the Israeli occupation warplanes launched a raid on the Nuseirat camp, coinciding with heavy and random gunfire from the occupation vehicles north of the camp.
Israeli aircraft targeted a group of citizens near Abu Sitta land on Salah al-Din Street with a reconnaissance missile. Red Crescent paramedics transferred the body of a deceased Palestinian and a number of injured people were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli occupation artillery bombed citizens’ homes southwest of Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City. The occupation warplanes also bombed the home of the Saqallah family, next to the Al-Istijaba Mosque in the neighborhood.
A correspondent with the Wafa news agency said that the Israeli occupation army blew up residential buildings in the vicinity of the university college in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City, in conjunction with heavy fire from the occupation artillery towards citizens’ homes south of the al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City .
Two citizens were killed and others were injured when the occupation warplanes bombed a residential apartment belonging to the Al-Araj family at the Abd Al-Aal intersection on Al-Jalaa Street, north of Gaza City. They were transferred to the Baptist Hospital in the city.
A Wafa news correspondent added that the Israeli occupation bombed a vehicle in front of Al-Rimal Clinic, west of Gaza City, which led to the killing of three citizens.
To the south, the Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, and artillery bombed the northern area of Rafah.
The Israeli occupation forces have continued their aggression by land, sea and air on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has resulted in the killing of 40,738 Palestinians and the injury of 94,154 others, in an incomplete toll, as thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.
Among the slain Palestinians are at least 16,589 children, 11,207 women, 182 journalists and 23 emergency responders, 885 medical staff, 82 Civil Defense staff, and 203 UNRWA staff.
