Israeli attacks on two Gaza homes leave at least 38 dead as siege of north continues

AT LEAST 38 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on two homes in Khan Younis in Gaza, the territory’s health authorities said today. 

Fourteen people were killed in a strike that hit the home of the Al-Fara family, and another six were killed in a separate air raid, according to agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Medics at the Nasser Medical complex confirmed the casualties at the Al-Fara home and released the names of the dead.

The Israeli military, in a statement giving an operational update, said that “a number of terrorists were eliminated from the air and ground” in southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued its assaults on hospitals in the besieged northern Gaza Strip, which has has not had deliveries of food, water or medical supplies in more than two weeks. 

Yesterday Gaza’s civil defence agency said more than 770 Palestinians had been killed in the north since Israel launched an assault it says is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping.

“Since the start of the military operation in northern Gaza more than 770 people have been killed,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, adding that the toll could rise as there were people buried under the rubble.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said yesterday that Israel aims to “empty” the Gaza Strip of Palestinians, especially in the north.

“It has been a full year since the greatest catastrophe that the Palestinian people experienced after the Nakba of 1948, which is the Israeli war in which crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing are being committed in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas said in a speech to members of the BRICS group.

“This is part of a plan to empty the territory of its people, especially now in northern Gaza where the occupation forces are resorting to starving the population there.”

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Israeli politicians, including a cabinet minister and members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, recently attended an event focussed on “resettling” Gaza.

Israel’s siege, bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed at least 42,847 since October last year.

‘It does not seem real’

On Tuesday, a Dr Mohammed Obeid of the Kamal Adwadn Hospital, an orthopedic with Doctors Without Borders, described the  situation at the northen hospital.

“There is death in all types and forms in Kamal Adwan hospital and north Gaza. The bombardment does not stop. The artillery does not stop. The planes do not stop. There is heavy shelling, and the hospital is targeted too. It just looks like a movie; it does not seem real.”

Dr Obeid said his own house was hit last week.

“They completely blew up the roof and water tanks, but we were at the ground floor and only one person got injured, thank God,” he said.

“We left a few times, moving to different areas, my family and neighbors were terrified. I sheltered in Kamal Adwan hospital with my wife and children, and I am now working here, where I can treat numerous patients.

He described the conditions in Kamal Adwan Hsopital as “disastrous”.

“The hospital is completely overwhelmed. There are injured people everywhere, outside and inside the hospital, and we do not have medical and surgical equipment to treat them.

“Ambulances cannot move. We cannot reach the bodies of the people killed and cannot save the injured ones who lie in the streets. Many of them died before reaching the hospital, and others died inside the hospital as we could not treat their wounds,” he said.

Dr Obeid said there were 30 people dead inside the hospital, “and around 130 injured patients who need urgent medical care”.

“Medical staff are exhausted, and many are injured as well. We feel hopeless. I just don’t have words.”

With reporting from AFP

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