GAZA: Israeli forces pounded central Gaza anew on Sunday, a day after killing 274 Palestinians during a raid on Al-Nuseirat camp, and tanks advanced into further areas of Rafah in a bid to seal off part of the southern city.
The Health Ministry in the besieged Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that at least 37,084 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Palestinian enclave since last October.
The ministry statement added that 84,494 others have also been injured in the Israeli onslaught.
“The Israeli occupation commits eight massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 283 martyrs and 814 injuries during the past 24 hours,” the ministry reported.
The ministry also reported that the death toll of the “Israeli occupation’s massacre” of Palestinians in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday had climbed to 274 deaths and 698 injuries, including critical cases.
The Israeli army on Saturday reported that it had retrieved four hostages from the central Gaza Strip in a deadly attack on Palestinians in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” it added.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since October 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Eight months into the Israeli bombardment, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of clean water, food, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
On Sunday, three Palestinians were killed and several hurt in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip, while tanks shelled parts of nearby Al-Maghazi and Al-Nuseirat refugee camps.
On Sunday, Israeli tanks advanced into two new districts in an apparent effort to complete the encirclement of the entire eastern side of Rafah, according to residents trapped in their homes.
Meanwhile, attempts by the United States and regional countries to broker a deal that would release all remaining hostages in return for a ceasefire have repeatedly stumbled on Israeli and Hamas intransigence over terms for an end to the war.
