In a fresh Israeli strike, around 42 people were killed in several districts of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave on Saturday, the director of the Hamas-run government media office, according to Reuters.
One of the strikes occurred on houses in Al-Shati, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps which killed 24 people, Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters. Another 18 Palestinians were killed in a strike on houses in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.
ISRAEL IS BOMBING CIVILIAN TENTS IN RAFAH RIGHT NOW!
ISRAEL IS BOMBING CIVILIAN TENTS IN RAFAH RIGHT NOW!
ISRAEL IS BOMBING CIVILIAN TENTS IN RAFAH RIGHT NOW!
ISRAEL IS BOMBING CIVILIAN TENTS IN RAFAH RIGHT NOW!
ALL EYES ON RAFAH!
— sapphic chaos | on strike (@reneesohot) June 21, 2024
Amid the chaos, rescue workers struggle to find survivors beneath the rubble, Fadel Naem, director of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defence, an emergency group active in Gaza, said they were digging for survivors in the Shati refugee camp and it had pulled several dozen bodies from a building that was hit by an Israeli strike.
On Saturday, Israel said that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate further. It said more details would be released soon.
Hamas did not comment on the Israeli claim to have hit its military infrastructure. It claimed that the attacks targeted civilian pollution and vowed, “the occupation and its Nazi leaders will pay the price for their violations against our people.”
Since the October 7 attack, at least 549 Palestinians in the territory have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began, and more than 250 individuals have been taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The deaths come a day after at least 25 people were killed in strikes on tent camps and 50 wounded near the southern city of Rafah.
Israeli forces shelled tent camps for displaced Palestinians outside Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50, according to the territory’s health officials and emergency workers.
This was the latest deadly attack in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands have fled fighting between Israel and Hamas.
