Israeli strikes in southern Gaza killed at least five Palestinians and injured dozens, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Monday’s attacks on Rafah and Khan Younis injured at least 30 people, Wafa said.
The victims were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex, but electricity cuts could make it difficult to treat the injured, according to the report.
Palestinian officials said 40 bodies arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people killed in Gaza since October 7 to 37,124, with more than 84,700 injured. Thousands more dead are believed to be buried under the rubble in the devastated enclave.
In Rafah, the city on the southern tip of Gaza where Israel launched a ground offensive last month, residents said on Monday that tanks were advancing deeper north in the early morning hours. They were on the outskirts of Shaboura, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city center.
Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, claimed an attack on Israeli forces there, saying its fighters “killed and injured” soldiers.
In a statement on Telegram, the Qassam Brigades said its fighters detonated explosives in a booby-trapped house while Israeli forces were inside.
“Immediately after the arrival of the rescue force, our [fighters] destroyed the vicinity of the house that was blown up with mortars,” he added.
About half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people were sheltering in Rafah before last month’s attack. Since then, one million people have fled the area, according to the United Nations.
Israel last week launched a major attack in central Gaza, around the small town of Deir el-Balah, the last population center not yet invaded. On Monday, residents said the Israelis had retreated from some areas but were continuing airstrikes and shelling.
Residents of the Nuseirat refugee camp, north of Deir el-Balah, were still clearing rubble after Israel freed four prisoners in a major raid on Saturday. Palestinian officials said 274 people were killed during the attack, making it one of the deadliest attacks of the ongoing attack.
In a video obtained by the Reuters news agency from Nuseirat, resident Anas Alyan, standing outside the ruins of his home, described how Israeli soldiers wearing shorts appeared on the streets, firing wildly as F-16s and quadcopters fired from the air.
“Anyone who moved on the street was killed. Anyone who moved or walked died immediately,” he said.
“There are still children under this building. We don’t know how to get them out,” he said, pointing to a ruin. “Today we found children martyred in that building,” he said, pointing to another.
Hospitals in Gaza, which have been crippled by months of Israeli attacks and the blockade, have appealed for help as they struggle to treat patients.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said an extra emergency department had been opened to deal with the huge influx of injured patients following Saturday’s operation.
The hospital, which runs on just one generator, remains overflowing with sick and injured patients and performs surgeries “on an hourly basis,” she said.
‘Indescribable’ destruction
The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said that more than half of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed by Israeli strikes since the war began on October 7.
“The destruction in Gaza is indescribable,” he stated in X, citing data from the UN Satellite Center.
“Removing the rubble will take years. Healing the psychological trauma of this war will take even longer,” UNRWA added while calling for a ceasefire.
“This suffering must come to an end,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israel continues to keep the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt closed, “amid imminent acute levels of famine across the Gaza Strip.”
“This application of collective punishment to the Palestinian population in Gaza not only further worsens the humanitarian situation in the Strip, but also constitutes a direct violation of the May Order of the International Court of Justice on Provisional Measures and international humanitarian law,” the institution said. medical charity. said in X.
The Israeli occupation continues to close the #Rafah Crossing amid imminent acute levels of famine across the Gaza Strip.
This application of collective punishment to the Palestinian population in #Gaza not only further worsens the humanitarian situation in… pic.twitter.com/8suRJK6dP1– PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 10, 2024
Khoudary said the flow of aid to Gaza remains scarce and many people now eat “just one meal a day.”
“This is not just happening in the south, but also in the north” of Gaza, Khoudary said, adding that markets are practically empty and the food available is difficult for most people to buy.
The UN World Food Program said on Monday it had halted aid deliveries to Gaza through a US-built pier due to security concerns.
The Gaza Government’s Social Communications Office said in a statement that Palestinians in Gaza did not “benefit” from the floating dock. He said the pier did not help alleviate the suffering of families or improve the dire humanitarian situation there.
Since its installation around a month and a half ago, the media office said, only a “very limited number” of 120 aid trucks have passed through.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
