Jerusalem, December 27 (EFE). – The death toll in the Gaza Strip from the Israeli army's offensive in the war against the Islamist group Hamas rose to 21,110 dead and 55,243 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry.
“In the last 24 hours alone, Israeli occupation forces carried out 16 massacres of entire families, leaving 195 dead and 325 injured,” Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled ministry, said in a statement.
The Israeli army reported yesterday that its troops were stepping up the offensive in Khan Younis, a Hamas stronghold in the south of the Palestinian enclave where Yahya Sinwar, the Islamist group's leader in Gaza, is believed to be hiding.
And this Wednesday, the authorities of the Gaza Strip denounce that Israeli soldiers continue to besiege the Naser Medical Complex, the most important in this area, and have “intensified their attacks” for fear that the same pattern is most pronounced in Al Shifa Hospital It was important throughout the Gaza Strip and was dismantled after the Israeli army discovered underground Hamas infrastructure.
According to the Red Crescent Emergency Service, “the bomb attack on a residential building in front of Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis left dozens dead and injured.”
In the same area, the upper floors of the Red Crescent's main building were attacked in recent days, injuring several dozen internally displaced people seeking refuge in the facilities, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday.
“We call on international institutions to take effective and urgent measures to ensure the protection of the Naser Medical Complex, its staff, the wounded, the sick and the thousands of displaced people there,” Al Qudra said.
The Israeli army continues its powerful air, land and sea offensive in the Gaza Strip on the 82nd day of its war, despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire to ease the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
France asked Israel on Tuesday for a ceasefire and called for “concrete measures” to protect civilians in Gaza, where almost all residents are displaced, amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis due to the collapse of hospitals, outbreaks of epidemics and shortages of drinking water, food , medicine, electricity and fuel, all in the middle of winter.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that “specialized medical teams, in collaboration with international health institutions, have arrived in the Gaza Strip to work at the Suhada al Aqsa Hospital, the Naser Medical Complex and the European Hospital in Gaza” and were able to operate a hospital under tents in Rafa, near the Egyptian border.
The war broke out on October 7 after a massive attack by Hamas that included the firing of rockets and the simultaneous infiltration of about 3,000 militiamen who massacred about 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 in towns near Gaza.
Since then, the Israeli army has continued a strong offensive by air, land and sea against the Palestinian enclave, where 1.9 million people are already internally displaced and about 8,000 people are missing under the rubble.