Israeli occupation forces have continued their relentless assault on the Gaza Strip for the 224th consecutive day, with heavy bombardments resulting in hundreds of dead and wounded.
Despite international warnings against a major offensive on the densely populated city, Israel announced on Thursday their plans to intensify ground operations in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, and deploy additional troops.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Thursday that the Israeli forces committed four massacres against families within 24 hours.
Hospitals received 39 bodies and 64 wounded, raising the total casualties since October 7th to 35,272 martyrs and 79,205 wounded, according to the ministry’s daily report.
More Massacres
Al-Jazeera reported that on Friday, the Israeli occupation forces expanded their incursion into the city of Rafah, in the south, and Jabaliya camp, in the north, while Israeli troops continue to besiege shelter centers for displaced people in Beit Hanoun, north of the Strip.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, four Palestinians were killed, and others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli warplanes also targeted the Al-Jaouni School, sheltering displaced persons, killing four and injuring others.
From Thursday night through early Friday, Israeli forces launched a series of airstrikes across central, northern, and southern Gaza, while also shelling several areas.
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Meanwhile, an Israeli raid targeted a Palestinian house in the al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza, and other raids struck central Gaza city.
Earlier, a young Palestinian man was killed, and two others were injured in an Israeli bombardment at the al-Awda roundabout in central Rafah, with artillery shelling targeting the city’s eastern area.
Several Palestinians were injured in intense Israeli raids on Jabaliya, where residential areas were deliberately attacked, along with artillery shelling across northern Gaza.
Medical sources reported that nine bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes and bombardment arrived at the European Gaza Hospital near Khan Younis.
Additionally, at least two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a gathering of displaced individuals. Israeli fighter jets targeted the Askula area in Gaza and two houses, one near Kuwait Hospital in Rafah and another in the Al-Janeinah neighborhood.
Staggering Death Toll
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, 35,303 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,261 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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.
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’.
(PC, QNN, WAFA)
