Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on northern and central Gaza as the besieged territory marks the grisly anniversary of the start of Israel’s war.
At least 56 Palestinians were killed during strikes overnight on Monday and into Tuesday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said, although the number of deaths reported by sources vary.
The casualties brought the overall death toll since the war was launched following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year to 41,965. The ministry added that 97,590 others have been injured.
At least 30 people, including six children and two women, were killed near the central city of Deir el-Balah overnight, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported, after houses in the Bureij refugee camp were struck.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that Israel’s military had killed 43 Palestinians across the enclave on Tuesday. The figure included seven people killed during an attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army has placed Jabalia under siege for the last several days, in tandem with stepping up its attacks on northern Gaza to a level not seen in months, according to our team on the ground.
The Israeli army reported that it had killed at least 20 armed Palestinian fighters in northern Gaza. It also reported continuing fighting in central and southern Gaza. The information could not be independently verified.
Systematic
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, called the scenes at Al-Aqsa Hospital “devastating”.
“Bodies were lined up on the ground with family members expressing a great deal of grief and agony,” he said.
“Palestinians continued to live in the Bureij camp – despite Israel ordering them to flee because it would be an ‘active military zone’ – as they had nowhere else to go.”
Video obtained by Al Jazeera’s team on the ground in Gaza shows a group of displaced people in Jabalia, coming under heavy gunfire by Israeli soldiers.
The video shows the group, which was in the process of evacuating Jabalia towards the western part of Gaza City, running in terror.
The video also shows many wounded. One man was bleeding from the abdomen as people tried to help him walk. Another, a little girl, is shown bleeding from the neck as she is bandaged in the back of an ambulance.
Although Israel has put a significant focus on attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon, its military is maintaining its efforts to fulfil the demands of its political masters to wipe out Hamas – a task that most analysts suggest is unrealistic.
Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum reported that the Israeli army is “systematically working to empty northern Gaza”.
