Beit Lahia, March 26 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have killed at least 12 Palestinians, including a mother, in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, local authorities say. The victims included five children, one of whom was a six-month-old infant. They were killed in intense artillery fire across the city.
Israeli troops also blew up residential buildings in the Tal as-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Drones attacked residential buildings in Rafah, while Israeli tanks advanced on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and the Bureij refugee camp in the central part o f the besieged territory.
The health ministry in Gaza said at least 830 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on March 18th. According to the ministry's statement, the figure includes 38 people killed in the past 24 hours. It also reported that the overall death toll has reached 50,183 since the Israeli war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.
The UN said on Tuesday that at least 124,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed its attacks.
The UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) said Gaza’s healthcare system is “under immense strain, struggling to provide the needed treatment for patients amid a sharp increase in casualties, a severe drop in medical stocks due to the halt in the entry of supplies, and a lack of medical equipment, blood units, and specialized medical personnel”.
“More than half of hospitals that are receiving trauma cases now have a bed occupancy rate of over 80 percent and calls for blood donations have been ongoing,” it added.
Israeli forces abduct 15 paramedics in Rafah
Gaza's Government Media Office announced in a statement that the Israeli army abducted 15 paramedics and civil defense personnel in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday. “The Israeli occupation army continues its crimes against the Palestinian people in blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement read.
It said 15 emergency responders were abducted in Rafah as they were rescuing injured people in western Rafah. The media office held Israel and the U.S. administration responsible for the safety of the personnel, and called the escalation “a war crime that demands immediate accountability.”
“The Israeli occupation is deliberately targeting medical and relief workers, in direct defiance of international agreements that guarantee their safety,” it said.
Gaza's Government Media Office appealed to the international community, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and human rights organizations to take urgent action to secure the captives’ release.
Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.
On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its deadly war on the blockaded coastal sliver.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]
