Gaza death toll rises as Israel commits more massacres – Health Ministry
Smoke rises from Gaza as seen from the Israeli side of the border, 16 December 2024
The Palestine Chronicle reports on 17 December 2024:
At least 31 Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, raising the overall death toll since October last year to 45,059, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The Israeli occupation committed three massacres of families in Gaza, resulting in “31 martyrs and 79 injuries during the past 24 hours,” the Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “A number of victims are still under rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the statement added.
The death toll has risen to 45,059 killed and 107,041 injuries since October 7, 2023, the Ministry said.
Displaced Targeted
On Tuesday afternoon, at least one Palestinian was reported killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike which targeted a gathering of civilians near the Al-Tabe’een School in northern Gaza City, the Quds News Network (QNN) reported.
Earlier more than 15 Palestinians were killed in another deadly airstrike on a house sheltering displaced families in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
The Al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, came under intense Israeli military assault since the early hours of Tuesday, reported QNN.
Israeli forces launched a ground invasion, advancing with military vehicles while continuing heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling across the territory, according to the report, resulting in the killing of several civilians, numerous injuries, and the arrest of dozens.
Local sources reported that the sounds of Israeli military vehicles were audible from the western part of Rafah, with additional armored units advancing towards the Bardawil area, reported QNN.
Civil defense teams later managed to retrieve casualties who were shot by Israeli tanks in the area.
Kamal Adwan Hospital
At the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Israeli military snipers have targeted the intensive care unit, the hospital’s director said on Monday.