News / Palestine

Carnage, chaos in Gaza: Palestinian death toll from Israeli war surpasses 2,750

Monday, 16 October 2023 6:17 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 October 2023 3:00 PM ]

Children injured in an Israeli strike receive emergency medical care at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 15, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

At least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 others wounded as the Israeli regime presses ahead with its bombing campaign against residential neighborhoods in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said more than 750 children were among those killed in Israeli aerial assaults on Gaza.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman of the ministry, said the Israeli attacks “continue with all brutality” targeting residential neighborhoods and destroying homes “on the heads of the residents.”

Gaza rescue operations “are facing great difficulties” due to the massive destruction in residential neighborhoods and the roads leading to hospitals, he added.

Palestinian man embraces the dead body of a beloved family member killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza.#GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/TwCydA678S
— Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) October 15, 2023

50 Gaza families wiped out

Palestinian Health Minister Mai Alkaila said 50 families have been completely removed from the civil registry and more than 470,000 people displaced as a result of the Israeli strikes on Gaza, home to 2.2 million people.

She described the situation in the besieged coastal sliver as “grave and catastrophic on all levels,” noting that overcrowding, a lack of electricity and water shortages have led to the spread of infectious diseases.

UNRWA raises concern about dire situation in Gaza

Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), highlighted the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Gaza is rapidly running out of water and electricity, and the population faces severe shortages of food and medicine, he added.

“Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world right now has lost its humanity. If we look at the issue of water — we all know water is life — Gaza is running out of water, and Gaza is running out of life,” Lazzarini said.

He also called for the lifting of the siege on the Palestinian territory and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to provide essential supplies such as fuel, water, food, and medicine.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Hamas said that its operation came in response to Israel’s violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing Israeli settler violence.

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