Continuing airstrikes were reported across Gaza on Wednesday and
“intense ground battles” between Israeli forces and Palestinian
fighters in refugee camps in central areas that have reportedly
left many dead.
Airstrikes and missiles struck dwellings and public buildings on
Tuesday including Al-Amal hospital in Khan
Younis killing five, among them a five-day-old
baby, reports indicate.
“No child in the world should be killed, let alone one sheltering
under the emblem of a humanitarian organisation; this has to
end,” said Gemma Connell, a team leader from UN aid coordination
office OCHA, in a video posted on X
soon after the attacks.
According to Ms. Connell, the hospital was “clearly marked” with
the logo of the Palestinian Red Crescent.
An estimated 14,000 people were sheltering at the health facility
when it was shelled twice, attacks that were also
swiftly condemned by UN health
agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“I deplore today’s strikes on the Al-Amal hospital…which severely
damaged the Palestine Red Crescent Society training centre
located within the hospital complex,” Tedros wrote on X.
Adding his voice once again to repeated international calls for
an immediate ceasefire, Tedros described the hospital bombardment
as “unconscionable”. “Gaza’s health system is already on its
knees, with health and aid workers continuously stymied in their
efforts to save lives due to the hostilities.”
Many of those sheltering at Al-Amal when it was shelled had now
left, the WHO Director-General
said, while those remaining were “extremely fearful for their
safety and planning to leave a place they had turned to for
refuge and protection”.
Under international humanitarian law the hospital “should be a
protected space…and today it was hit twice”, said Dr. Ayadil
Saparbekov, WHO Team Lead for Health Emergencies, speaking from
the facility in a video posted on X, during a UN assessment
mission to the hospital that indicated extensive damage.
“The war should stop, the healthcare workers and health
facilities should be protected.”
Nowhere is safe
The latest humanitarian update from UN aid
coordination office OCHA published overnight into Wednesday
described “heavy Israeli bombardment from air, land
and sea…across most of the Gaza Strip” on Tuesday, along
with continued rocket fire into
Israel by Palestinian armed forces.
Clashes on the ground were also reported in the southern town of
Khan Younis, along with “heavy strikes” in Gaza city to the
north.
OCHA also highlighted reports of multiple fatalities in areas
where Palestinians had relocated to, “following orders from
Israeli forces to move from northern Gaza”.
Rising death toll
Citing Gaza’s health authority, the UN humanitarian update said
that 207 Palestinians had been killed from 1 to 2 January, and
another 338 people injured.
Between 7 October and 2 January, the war has claimed at least
22,185 Palestinian fatalities in Gaza - about 70 per cent of them
are believed to be women and children. Up to 7,000 people are
missing, with many presumed to be buried under the rubble.
According to the Israeli military, since the start of the ground
operation in Gaza, 171 soldiers have been killed, and 983
soldiers injured.
