Israeli raids and air strikes kill dozens of Palestinians
Israeli troops yesterday morning carried out raids at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital and across the occupied West Bank, while a military operation continued at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
Troops detained medical staff and displaced people who had sought shelter in Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, and “opened fire” on men after ordering them to leave the building, the official Wafa news agency reported.
In the West Bank, three people were shot dead and four wounded during raids, the Palestinian Authority’s Ramallah-based Health Ministry said.
The deadly raids came as Israel continued to carry out air strikes in southern Gaza, despite international pressure for an immediate ceasefire.
At least 66 people were killed in Gaza on Tuesday night, including three in and around Rafah, the enclave’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said yesterday.
Hours before Israeli troops entered Nasser Hospital, witnesses had said tanks were surrounding the complex. Palestinians have reported intense strikes near the hospital for more than a week.
On Tuesday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli troops were firing shells near the complex “in preparation for its storming”.
“Thousands of displaced people are still inside the hospital,” the ministry said. “They do not have sufficient quantities of drinking water, food and baby formula, and their lives are in danger.”
In Gaza city, the army continued its raid on Al Shifa Hospital, which it has called “one of the most successful operations” of the war.
More than 170 people have been killed and at least 500 detained so far during the operation. Survivors have described severe food, water and electricity shortages, as well as beatings and mass killings in the hospital’s morgue.
Those who had sought shelter in and around the hospital have been ordered to move south, even as Israel continues to carry out attacks across the enclave, including in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, and in Al Mawasi, which had been declared a “safe zone.”
Also yesterday, Israeli troops carried out several deadly raids and drone strikes in cities across the West Bank.
A 19-year-old man was shot dead in Jenin in the morning, the director of the city’s government hospital told Wafa. This was followed hours later by a drone strike that killed two people in the city.
Israeli snipers were stationed across various parts of Jenin and its refugee camp, while troops destroyed memorials to Palestinians killed in the conflict, Wafa reported.
Three men were detained and their car destroyed near the city’s Al Razi Hospital.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, a woman was shot and wounded in Burqa, near Nablus, while four men were shot and seriously wounded in Qabatiya.