Gaza City, December 29 (RHC)-- The World Health Organization warns tens of thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Israeli attacks on central and southern Gaza as devastating airstrikes continue to kill civilians.  Palestinian health officials say the latest assaults have killed at least 50 people in areas including Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Maghazi. 

Among those killed are two more media workers.  TV journalist Mohammad Khair al-Din and his camera operator Ahmed Khair al-Din were killed when Israel’s military attacked a residential square in Beit Lahia.  Gaza’s Government Media Office says they are the 104th and 105th journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since October.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s public health crisis continues to deepen, with starving residents increasingly stopping aid shipments in search of food and drinkable water.  Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been effectively cut off from medical care. 

Sean Casey, emergency medical team coordinator for the World Health Organization, says hospital capacity is at about 20% of what it was in early October.  “So, almost all of the hospital beds, almost all of the hospital services have stopped functioning, either because the facilities themselves have been affected, because the staff have been forced to flee, because they run out of power or they run out of medical supplies, or the staff have not been able to access them.”