Israeli strikes kill 150 Palestinians in Gaza as death toll nears 22,000
The Palestinian health ministry says at least 150 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, Israel continued committing serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes in its ongoing onslaught on the besieged Palestinian territory.
Dozens of the fatalities were from the bombing of al-Maghazi and al-Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip and airstrikes on the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted a school housing displaced people in Khan Younis, injuring several people. Dozens are also missing under the rubble of the buildings that were bombed.
A Red Crescent video published on Sunday showed the chaotic aftermath of strikes in central Gaza, as rescuers worked in the dark to carry an injured child from smoking rubble.
The health ministry says the regime has deliberately targeted tens of hospitals and ambulances. Doctors at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis say the medical complex is stretched far beyond its capacity and can no longer accept new patients.
The World Food Program says a complete collapse of the most basic services is imminent in Gaza. Also, the Palestinian Red Crescent has warned that the incoming humanitarian aid does not meet the needs of 90 percent of the Gaza population.
The Gaza director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media on Saturday that the war and lack of supplies have left 40% of Gazans at risk of famine. Israel blockaded most food, fuel and medicine after the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel’s indiscriminate aerial bombardments and shelling have destroyed Gaza’s critical infrastructure. Apart from residential buildings, the regime has targeted hospitals, schools, refugee camps, power plants and communication systems, turning them into rubble.
The Palestinian health ministry says the death toll from 86 days of Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip has topped 21,800. Palestinian health ministry casualty figures have said 70% of Gaza's dead were women and under-18s. More than 56,000 others have also been wounded.
CNN reported on December 14 that about half of all the Israeli munitions dropped on Gaza were imprecise “dumb” bombs, which pose a greater threat to civilians.
Earlier this week, an Israeli military official admitted that the high death toll from a Christmas Eve attack on a refugee camp in central Gaza was the result of the use of improper munitions, highlighting military tactics that have created high numbers of civilian casualties.
Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using banned white phosphorous.
More than 90 percent of the besieged territory’s population is now displaced, with aid groups warning of hunger and outbreaks of disease. Delivery of aid has been restricted by Israel worsening the crisis.
Palestinian health officials have warned that Gazans are facing dire humanitarian conditions. Nearly three months of Israeli fierce bombing has left many Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip displaced and without basic supplies.
Media footage showed people on Sunday sitting outside their makeshift tents in Rafah, wedged among the ruins of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment.
Gemma Connell, an official with the UN humanitarian agency OCHA who has been working in Gaza, said tens of thousands of people fleeing to Rafah had been through attacks and bombardment and had arrived often with no possessions or anywhere to sleep.
"I just am so fearful that the amount of deaths that we've been seeing is going to increase exponentially both because of this renewed offensive but also because of these conditions which are literally unbelievable," she said.
Gaza hospital yard is turned into a cemetery
On Sunday, a video showed how parts of the yard at al-Shifa Hospital had become a cemetery, with signs bearing the names of men and women killed during the intense fighting and bombardment in the area during the Israeli aggression
Men, women and children were seen at the cemetery visiting the graves of their loved ones.
Israeli bombardment destroyed over 70% of Gaza homes: Report
A new report says 70 percent of the homes in the besieged Palestinian territory have been destroyed.
Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza for nearly three months has destroyed 70 percent of the homes in the besieged strip, according to the Government Media Office.
Experts say Gaza is now unrecognizable and its bombing is the most destructive in recent history.
An earlier report said about 300,000 out of 439,000 homes have been destroyed in Israeli attacks, a Wall Street Journal report said.
Analyzing satellite imagery, the report added that the 29,000 bombs dropped on the strip have targeted residential areas, Byzantine churches, hospitals and shopping malls and all civilian infrastructure has been damaged to an extent that they cannot be repaired.
Netanyahu indicates longer war
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has renewed his promise to eliminate the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and bring home all Israeli captives in Gaza.
He said the regime’s deadly military campaign is at its height and will continue for many more months.
Netanyahu also said the border zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt should be under the regime’s control. The zone is now crammed with civilians who have fled the carnage across the rest of the strip.
Netanyahu's comments signal no letup in a campaign that has killed many thousands and leveled much of Gaza.
The remarks come as Netanyahu faces growing pressure from his right-wing coalition regime amid sharp disagreements over the aggression, which is nearing its 90th day with no end in sight to the war or a deal for a pause in hostilities.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine has ruled out any exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian abductees before the regime stops its genocidal aggression.
Ziad al-Nakhalah says the Israeli regime must also first fully withdraw its forces from Gaza. Resistance movements in Gaza say Israel cannot release the captives held in the territory through military means.
Israeli troops conduct more raids on West Bank
Israeli forces have raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the town of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank as they press ahead with their incursions into the Palestinian territory.
The regime’s troops also launched drone strikes and carried out several abductions amid fierce fighting inside the camp on Sunday.
Israeli troops were forced to leave the area after meeting stiff resistance from the Palestinian fighters.
A day earlier, Israeli forces raided another refugee camp in the city of Ramallah. They stormed a house, terrorized residents and detained several Palestinians. They later abducted over a dozen Palestinians.
Israeli troops have intensified their raids across the West Bank since October 7, the day the regime launched its deadly onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 300 Palestinians in the occupied territories ever since.
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