DOZENS DEAD AS ISRAEL ATTACKS REFUGEE CAMP IN CENTRAL GAZA
▶ Air strike on Maghazi kills 70 people, authorities say, as Israeli leaders admit fighting is taking toll on soldiers
An Israeli air strike that hit a refugee camp in central Gaza killed 70 people, authorities said yesterday.
The attack came as Israel’s leaders acknowledged their country was paying a “very heavy price” in Gaza, after 15 of its soldiers were killed in combat with Hamas fighters and other militants at the weekend.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 20,600 Palestinians and displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
More than two-thirds of the Palestinians killed since the Israel-Gaza war began have been women and children, said the Gaza Health Ministry.
This followed attacks by Hamas on Israeli settlements on October 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 abducted, mostly civilians.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said that “at least 70 people were killed in the Maghazi refugee camp massacre”, adding that the Israeli strike on Sunday night hit “a residential block”.
Israel’s army said it was investigating the report.
Resident Abed Ziadaa told The National that his wife and 11 relatives were killed in the strike, including seven children, while another eight were buried by rubble.
“We were in our home when suddenly a number of Israeli rockets hit us,” Mr Ziadaa said.
“There are around 10 houses destroyed. It is a massacre. We can’t recognise people because most of the bodies have been torn apart.”
He said he was rescued from under the rubble by emergency crews and neighbours. His left arm and back were injured.
“There is no safe place in Gaza,” said Mr Al Qudra. “My home is completely destroyed.”
Earlier, Mr Al Qudra said a number of buildings were damaged in the camp, which is east of the town of Deir Al Balah.
The Palestine Red Crescent said on X that its crews “transported a large number of martyrs and wounded following the targeting of a residential square in Maghazi camp”.
The Red Crescent said that intense Israeli strikes had “led to the closure of roads between the camps of Bureij, Maghazi and Nuseirat, hindering the work of ambulance and rescue teams”.
Israeli warplanes carried out more than 50 raids in Nusseirat, Bureij, and Maghazi camps on Sunday and early yesterday, the Gaza government media office claimed.
Twenty people were killed in air raids on Sunday night in
Khan Younis, taking the overnight death toll from Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza to more than 100, the Health Ministry said.
Despite mounting pressure for a humanitarian ceasefire, Israel’s army has continued attacks, amid reports of fighting between soldiers and militants across the strip.
For Israeli leaders, there are some concerns that the increasing death toll among its troops – 154 since the ground offensive began in late October – could erode public support for the war.
“The war exacts a very heavy price from us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
In a televised speech, President Isaac Herzog appealed for the country to remain united.
“This is a test. We will not break nor blink,” he said.
A Palestinian official in Gaza said yesterday that “every day in which the occupation soldiers are killed, is a black day for Israel”.
“The days grow darker as the resistance mounts and the disappointment grows.
“The Israeli army, which is accustomed to the principle of zero casualties, finds itself drowning not only in casualties, but also in deaths.
“The scorched earth policy did not help, nor bulldozers and tanks and armoured vehicles. Those are becoming walking coffins.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war exacts a heavy price from his forces, but the fighting must go on