The Gaza Civil Defence reports that Israeli airstrikes have resulted in numerous fatalities.
GAZA CITY (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The civil defence service in Gaza reported that Israeli forces murdered several individuals throughout the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, as the military intensified its offensive on Gaza City, displacing hundreds of thousands.
On September 19, Israel initiated a significant air and ground onslaught against the primary metropolitan core of the Gaza Strip, asserting that the operation aims to eliminate Hamas following nearly two years of conflict.
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that approximately one million individuals resided in Gaza City and its vicinity, where it has proclaimed a famine.
The Israeli military reports that over 550,000 individuals have evacuated the city and relocated southward, although Gaza’s civil defence department, functioning under Hamas jurisdiction, estimates the figure to be around 450,000.
Thaer Saqr, 39, informed AFP that his sister was fatally injured while the family was travelling south.
“The tanks along the coastal road commenced firing upon us, resulting in my sister’s death,” he stated on Wednesday upon his return to Gaza City.
From Al-Shifa Hospital, he stated he “will not depart, even if they annihilate us all.”
The civil defence organisation reported that numerous families had been sleeping on the ground for several days after evacuating from northern Gaza, unable to obtain temporary accommodation.
“I beseech the world: assist us,” Saqr stated. “I address Israel: you request our evacuation, yet how can we comply when we possess no shekels, no means of transportation, and no destination?”
‘DEPLORABLE VISION’
The civil defence said that Israeli troops murdered 40 individuals in assaults around the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 22 fatalities resulting from three airstrikes on a warehouse housing displaced persons near the Firas market in Gaza City.
An AFP journalist on-site said that numerous youngsters were among those extricated from the debris.
In response to an inquiry from AFP, the Israeli military stated that it had targeted “two Hamas terrorists” in the northern region, where Gaza City is situated, without providing any specifics.
Media limitations in the region and challenges in accessing numerous locations prevent AFP from independently corroborating the information supplied by civil defence or the Israeli military.
AFP footage subsequent to the assault shown Palestinians sifting through extensive debris and distorted metal while two men transported a body enveloped in ragged blankets.
In the aftermath, weeping ladies knelt beside their loved ones, embracing their lifeless forms enveloped in white shrouds.
At least six corpses were positioned on the ground, with two resembling the size of infants.
Mohammed Hajjaj, who suffered the loss of his relatives, informed AFP that “intense bombardment” struck the building while individuals were asleep.
We arrived and discovered infants and women dismembered. It was a lamentable spectacle.
According to Gaza’s civil defence, a further eight individuals were fatally shot by Israeli forces near an aid distribution centre in Khan Yunis, located in the south. The Israeli army informed AFP that it was unaware of the occurrence.
“These distributions are perilous, and I urge everyone to prevent their children from attending them,” stated Hosni Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was slain, in an interview with AFP following the incident.
Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza reported receiving 11 victims on Wednesday, “most of them dismembered,” following a hit near the Nuseirat refugee camp.
‘DEATH WAS IMMINENT’
The Israeli military, in initiating its US-supported ground offensive, instructed Palestinians to relocate to a “humanitarian area” in the coastal region of Al-Mawasi in the south.
Israel has conducted multiple strikes in the region since designating it a safe zone at the onset of the conflict.
Mahmud al-Dreimly, 44, expressed that while searching for a tent for his family in Gaza City’s Al-Rimal area, he sensed that death was imminent.
“He informed AFP that he observed tanks discharging fire into the sky and occasionally targeting individuals.”
Dreimly reported observing tanks in the Tel al-Hawa and Al-Sabra districts, as well as on the periphery of Al-Rimal.
The initiation of the ground offensive coincided with a UN investigation that accused Israel of perpetrating “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
Israel dismissed the results and condemned the investigation as “distorted and false.”
In over two years, Israeli military operations have resulted in the deaths of at least 65,419 Palestinians, predominantly civilians, as reported by the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, a statistic deemed credible by the UN.
The Hamas assault that initiated the conflict led to the fatalities of 1,219 individuals, predominantly civilians, according per an AFP count derived on Israeli statistics.