Gaza City, December 31 (RHC)-- 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 are 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.
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.
