Israeli air attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 16 Palestinians in separate attacks in the central part of the enclave.
Five members of one family, including children, were killed in an attack on a camp for displaced people in Deir el-Balah in the early hours of Sunday as they slept.
“We woke up to a loud explosion in the middle of the night,” said Mahmoud Fayad, an eyewitness. “We ran to the loud screams and found many civilians killed; and entire family, man, wife and their children.”
Dozens of others were injured in the attack, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud.
“Many people in the vicinity of the tent site were reported with various injuries,” said Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah. “The overnight attack highlights the vulnerability of displaced civilians inside these tents.”
Then, later on Sunday, at least 11 people were killed in an Israeli air attack on a residential house in al-Bureij camp.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said that the strike had hit the eastern part of the camp, and that there had been no prior warning to the residents of the building, which was flattened.
Abu Azzoum said that he “personally saw bodies… shredded to pieces” as they arrived at Deir el-Balah’s al-Aqsa Hospital, adding that they had been gathered in bags used for flour because of a lack of coffins.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Sunday that more than 44,708 Palestinians have been killed and 106,050 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October of last year. Several people were injured overnight in “drone attacks on residential areas” to the east of Gaza City, Mahmoud reported.
Meanwhile, Israel’s siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza is continuing, with Palestinian health officials reporting on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the hospital, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.
Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital, which is one of only three barely operational in the north of the enclave, said the facility was hit by around 100 tank shells and bombs, wounding several of the medical staff and patients.
“The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply,” Abu Safia said in a statement.
The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Abu Safia’s account.
“Israeli forces are about 500 metres [1,650 feet] away from the gate of the hospital and set up a sniper position that keeps targeting people and any moving objects inside the hospital,” Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud reported, adding that there was a heavy presence of drones and quadcopters in the skies above the facility.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed about 30 people when they stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital under cover of heavy artillery fire and air attacks, according to Eid Sabbah, the hospital’s director of nursing.
To justify its actions, Israel claims Hamas fighters are using civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, for operational cover throughout the 14-month Gaza war.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, has denied this and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombings and assaults.
