DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip –
Israeli forces bombed cities, towns and refugee camps in various parts of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, leaving dozens dead, as part of an air and ground offensive against Hamas that has spread across much of the territory and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Escape from their homes and shelters.
The war has already cost more than 20,000 Palestinian lives and forced around 85% of the 2.3 million population to flee. Most of the northern Gaza Strip has been devastated for weeks, virtually depopulated and isolated from the rest of the territory. Many fear that the South will face a similar fate.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas – which continues to resist, including in the north – and bring home the more than 100 hostages the militants are holding after their Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel has ignored international calls for a ceasefire, claiming it is a victory for Hamas.
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While the United States has pledged vital support to the offensive, it has also called on Israel to take greater steps to protect civilians and allow more aid. But aid workers say the amount of food, fuel and medical supplies coming into the area is not enough to meet needs. In addition, according to United Nations officials, one in four Palestinians in Gaza is suffering from famine.
North-South attacks
An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the town of Beit Lahia – one of the first targets of the ground invasion in the territory's north – buried at least 21 people, including women and children, a relative said.
Bassel Kheir al-Din, a journalist for a local television station, said the attack destroyed his family's home and severely damaged three neighboring residences. He added that 12 members of his family, including three children aged 2, 7 and 8, were buried and are presumed dead. In addition, nine residents are missing.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps and destroyed buildings, residents said. Israel announced this week that it would expand its ground offensive into the center of the territory, typically launching waves of air and artillery strikes before its soldiers and tanks move in.
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A hospital in the nearby city of Deir al Balah received the bodies of 25 people who died overnight, including five children and seven women, hospital records revealed on Thursday. The incessant explosions could be heard throughout the night in the city, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge and where many of them spend the cold nights outdoors.
“It was another night of killings and massacres,” said Saeed Moustafa, a resident of Nuseirat camp. He said people were still standing in the rubble of a home destroyed by an airstrike on Wednesday, calling for help.
“We can’t get them out. “We hear their screams, but we don’t have the equipment,” he added.
Further south in Khan Yunis, the Palestinian Red Crescent said at least 10 people were killed and 12 injured in an attack near Al-Amal hospital. Much of the population has left the city, but many are seeking shelter near Al-Amal and another hospital in the hope of escaping the bombings.
Another wave of displaced people
Rami Abu Mosab, a resident of Bureij refugee camp, said thousands of people had left their homes in recent days because of heavy shelling. He wants to stay there because he feels there is no safe place in Gaza.
“Death is here and there,” he said. “It’s better to die at home.”
The UN denounces a health catastrophe in Gaza, hospitals are barely functioning and infectious diseases are spreading in crowded areas
Bureij and Nuseirat are some of the camps in the region built to house hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel. Since then they have grown into overcrowded residential areas.
About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes during that conflict, an exodus that Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe. Nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced within the Gaza Strip since October 7.
As Israel expands its offensive, fleeing Palestinians have seized areas along the border with Egypt and on the southern Mediterranean coast in large numbers. Even in these parts, Israel continues to carry out attacks against so-called military targets.
The Israeli military blames Hamas for the large number of civilian casualties, saying the group has fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in residential areas. But the military rarely comments on specific attacks.
Israel's offensive in Gaza is already one of these military campaigns most devastating recent history. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than 21,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have lost their lives. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The army says it killed thousands of combatants without providing evidence and that 167 of its soldiers lost their lives in the ground offensive.
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