In its latest act of aggression in the genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli regime has attacked thousands of Palestinians queuing for food in the devastated Gaza City.
Gaza’s health ministry in a statement confirmed on Thursday that at least 20 have been killed and 150 others wounded, adding the number is likely to rise as scores have suffered serious injuries.
The attack in war-devastated northern Gaza occurred at Kuwait Roundabout, east of the Zeitoun neighborhood.
Israeli tanks fired shells and live rounds at Palestinians in the area.
The victims were taken to al-Shifa Hospital, which is out of medical supplies and only has a few doctors working.
Israeli shelling has intensified around besieged hospitals and shelters in the southern city of Khan Yunis, which has already been the focus of the regime’s airstrikes.
The health ministry says the hospitals have run out of anesthesia drugs, painkillers, and food.
Palestinian medics said Israeli tanks had cut off and were shelling targets around the city’s two main still-functioning hospitals, Nasser and Al-Amal, trapping medical teams, patients and displaced people sheltering inside or nearby.
Breaking: 20 killed and 150 injured in the Israeli occupation’s shelling of civilians while waiting for aid at the Kuwait roundabout in eastern Gaza.
The @EuroMedHR warned in two previous statements of Israel’s continued killing of citizens waiting for aid, yet no action is… pic.twitter.com/3ugrIE8kRi
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) January 25, 2024
The Israeli military’s siege of Khan Younis’ main hospitals has made it near impossible for rescue crews to reach the wounded or collect the dead.
Meanwhile, an airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing several more children.
Gaza health officials also said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in Khan Younis in the past 24 hours, including two children in an Israeli air strike that hit a residential home.
Israel has stepped up its aerial and ground strikes on Khan Yunis, a day after targeting a UN shelter housing displaced Palestinians in the same city in southern Gaza.
On Wednesday, the United Nations said Israeli tanks struck a large UN compound in Gaza sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least a dozen people and wounding 75.
Attacks on civilian sites were “utterly unacceptable”: UN refugee agency
The director of UNRWA, Thomas White, said on Thursday that attacks on civilian sites in Khan Younis were “utterly unacceptable” and must stop immediately.
“As fighting intensifies around hospitals and shelters hosting the displaced, people are trapped inside and lifesaving operations are impeded,” he said.
White went on to say that the attack on the Khan Younis Training Centre on Wednesday, which hosted thousands of displaced people, resulted in 12 people killed and 75 others wounded – with more than a dozen in critical condition.
“The situation in Khan Younis underscores a consistent failure to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in carrying out attacks,” he said. “This is unacceptable and abhorrent and must stop.”
White underscored the necessity of taking every measure to protect civilians.“I remind all parties that protection of hospitals, clinics, medical personnel and UN premises is explicitly enshrined within international law.”
Palestinian resistance fighters keep confronting the invaders with steadfastness
Resistance fighters in Gaza keep battling invading Israeli forces in southern Gaza, with Hamas reporting fierce clashes in the center and west of Khan Yunis.
In one of the latest operations, the Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad says it fired mortar shells at Israeli forces in Western Khan Yunis.
The Palestinian Mujahedeen Movement said it brought down an Israeli helicopter using a surface-to-air missile.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said it targeted two Merkava tanks using Yasin shells. The regime claims it has encircled the city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities against Palestinians.
Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed more than 25,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
