Major Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, confirmed to Al-Jazeera that four schools housing displaced Palestinians were attacked on Sunday alone.
The Civil Defense in Gaza reported that the Israeli occupation forces targeted four schools sheltering displaced people in the last 24 hours, Al-Jazeera reported.
According to Palestinian media, Israeli warplanes launched raids on northern neighborhoods of Rafah in southern Gaza early Monday.
Palestinian activists shared video clips showing ambulances rushing to aid the wounded following a dawn airstrike on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Major Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, confirmed to Al-Jazeera that four schools housing displaced Palestinians were attacked on Sunday alone.
‘Soul of My Soul’ Grandfather Killed by Israel – Beloved Gazan Follows Grandaughter Reem
He said that at least 43 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces stormed Khalil Awida School in Beit Hanoun, Gaza City, emphasizing that the occupation has been relentlessly targeting displaced persons by bombing one shelter after another.
Basal added that many of the victims’ bodies bore signs of severe deformation due to the types of ammunition used. He also highlighted the dire lack of medical resources, which has resulted in many wounded succumbing to their injuries.
On Sunday, medical sources reported the deaths of 15 people in an Israeli airstrike on a school operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The school, located west of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, was sheltering displaced families.
Civil defense teams retrieve bodies and rescue wounded Palestinians following an Israeli airstrike on the Ahmad Abdel Aziz School sheltering displaced people west of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Om9w3ubWB3
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 16, 2024
During a press conference on Sunday, Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s media office, reported that over 100 Palestinians had been killed within two days.
He accused the Israeli military of targeting civilians, displaced persons, and medical crews in an indiscriminate and brutal manner, which claimed the lives of over 110 individuals in the preceding hours.
Al-Thawabta described a horrific massacre at Khalil Awida School in Beit Hanoun, where over 43 Palestinians were killed. He noted that this attack brought the total number of targeted shelters to 213 since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Khalil Oweida School under Attack – Israel Kills 15 Civilians, Abducts All Men
He also reported a brutal attack on a Civil Defense field headquarters that resulted in the deaths of four personnel, bringing the total number of Civil Defense martyrs to 94.
Al-Thawabta further detailed successive massacres in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, including a residential area in Nuseirat camp, where 42 Palestinians were killed, and an attack in Bureij camp that claimed the lives of members of the Al-Qarnawi family.
He added that Israeli forces have also targeted medical staff and hospitals in recent days, including a deadly strike on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza that killed several doctors and healthcare workers.
Al-Thawabta accused Israel of implementing a systematic starvation policy by sealing Gaza’s borders and preventing the entry of aid and food supplies, deepening the humanitarian crisis for over 2.4 million Palestinians, including one million children and nearly one million women.
He condemned the deliberate targeting of journalists, civil defense teams, and humanitarian workers, holding Israel, the United States, and allied countries such as Britain, Germany, and France morally and legally responsible for their complicity in these atrocities.
Al-Thawabta called on the international community, UN organizations, and global media to exert pressure on Israel to halt its genocide and cease targeting journalists, doctors, civil defense teams, and all segments of Palestinian society.
Palestinian Mayor of Deir Al-Balah Killed in Israeli Airstrikes across Gaza
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 45,028 Palestinians have been killed, and 106,962 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
LIVE BLOG: Army Targets Khan Yunis School | Strikes on Rafah, Jabaliya – Day 437
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, AJA)
