At least 36 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Gaza's civil defense authority said, as ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza City sparked widespread panic among Palestinians, reported Xinhua.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense authority, told Xinhua that three Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a house in the town of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, while five others were killed when a tent sheltering displaced people was bombed in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.
Basal said that four people, including two children, were killed in a bombing of a tent near the Islamic University in western Gaza City. He added that another two children were killed in an attack on a house in the Sabra neighborhood, south of the city.
Another four people were killed in an airstrike on a building of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, which was sheltering displaced persons in the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City, sparking a fire, according to Basal.
He noted that 15 people were killed, including eight people who were shot by Israeli forces while waiting for food near the U.S.-backed aid center at the Netzarim junction in the central Gaza Strip, and the rest killed in attacks on an apartment and a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
In Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, a woman and her two children, one of whom was an infant, were killed in an airstrike targeting a house in the camp west of the city, according to Basal.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on these incidents.
In addition, local sources and eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli army is intensifying its attacks, destroying homes in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighborhoods in southern Gaza City and the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip.
Sources and witnesses told Xinhua that Israeli aircraft launched dozens of raids on these areas in the past hours, producing loud explosions and thick columns of smoke.
The intense attacks have caused fear and panic among Palestinian families living in these areas, especially children and women, prompting them to flee their homes, according to the sources and witnesses.
Amira Totah, 35, who fled her home in the densely populated Al-Sabra neighborhood, said, "We left to the sound of heavy shelling and hovering aircraft, fearing for our lives."
Speaking to Xinhua after arriving at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Totah said, "The situation is unbearable. People in Gaza have been suffering for 23 months since the war began. This must stop immediately to end our suffering."
Totah, who is caring for five children, one of whom was injured in a previous Israeli airstrike, added, "It is not the children's fault, but they are living in displacement and homelessness. We want to live in peace, like people elsewhere in the world."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that over the last few days, the army has resumed operations in the Jabalia area and on the outskirts of Gaza City.
"As part of their activity, the troops are dismantling military infrastructure above and below ground, eliminating terrorists, and consolidating operational control in the area. This enables the expansion of the operation to additional locations and prevents terrorist organizations from returning to their positions," it said.
Meanwhile, Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, confirmed on Wednesday the killing and wounding of some Israeli soldiers in an attack on a military site on the outskirts of Khan Younis.
Israel began calling up around 60,000 reservists on Wednesday ahead of a planned offensive to take over Gaza City and displace its population, an Israeli army spokesperson said.
An additional 20,000 soldiers would be called up in the coming days, said the spokesperson. A total of 110,000-130,000 reservists will be drafted in three phases throughout the campaign.
On March 18, Israel resumed its military operations in the Palestinian enclave. At least 10,576 Palestinians had been killed and 44,717 others injured since Israel renewed its intensive strikes, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 62,122, and injuries to 156,758, Gaza's health authorities said on Wednesday.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
