Bombed out Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis / File photo
Gaza City, March 25 (RHC)-- The Health Ministry in Gaza says Israel’s unrelenting strikes on the strip have killed at least 61 Palestinians in the past 24 hours. In a statement on Monday, the ministry said four bodies were recovered from under the rubble, and 134 injured people were admitted to hospitals over the last day.
According to the statement, the latest deaths have brought to 50,082 the number of Palestinians who lost their lives since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The war has also wounded 113,408 others.
“A number of victims remain under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulance and civil defense crews,” the ministry added. The ministry also decried Israel’s bombardment of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which killed two people and destroyed the male surgical ward.
Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed in the attack while receiving treatment, along with a 16-year-old boy.
“This attack constitutes a new war crime added to the record of repeated Israeli violations against civilians and medical facilities, which flagrantly violate the rules of international humanitarian law,” Munir al-Bursh, the ministry’s director general, said in a statement.
This “not only demonstrates a blatant disregard for the lives of innocent people but also hinders the provision of life-saving medical services, at a time when patients and the wounded need the utmost care,” the official added.
Al-Bursh urged the international community and humanitarian organizations to take urgent action against Israeli crimes and for an independent international investigation to be launched.
“We also call on all people of conscience around the world to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and pressure international bodies to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its ongoing crimes against humanity.”
In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.
The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.
Since March 18th, the regime has launched strikes on Gaza, breaking the ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange agreement that lasted nearly two months.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and REUTERS ]
