Israel attacks central Gaza, killing numerous Palestinians

Palestinian authorities reported dozens more casualties on Wednesday, including 20 in a single attack, as Israeli forces bombarded central Gaza by land, sea, and air.

Israel’s military chief, Herzi Halevi, stated on Tuesday that the conflict would endure for several months, expressing Israeli determination to destroy Hamas in defiance of international appeals for a truce in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. He asserted that “dismantling a terrorist organization requires no shortcuts.”

An Israeli airstrike near the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, killed 20 Palestinians on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military did not immediately provide a statement.

Attempts to contact Palestinian casualties were hampered overnight by a telecommunications blackout that affected a large portion of the enclave, but by mid-morning, the service was slowly returning.

Health officials reported that seven Palestinians slain overnight had their bodies arrive at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, while doctors in the Al-Maghazi region of central Gaza reported that five Palestinians were killed in a single airstrike.

Along with the fighting in the adjoining town of Juhr Ad-Deek, where they claimed Israeli tanks are stationed, residents also reported severe combat east and north of the Al-Bureij district.

Three more Israeli troops were reported killed in action in Gaza on Wednesday, raising the overall number of Israeli military casualties in the territory to 166 since ground operations started on October 20.

IDF jeep gets blown up by Hamas IED in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/wHUWSQCLG7

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 26, 2023

After Hamas went on a cross-border rampage on October 7, the worst day in Israel’s history, and killed 1,200 people, the war broke out. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched an offensive that has mostly destroyed Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, since October 7, Israeli attacks in the coastal Palestinian enclave have resulted in 21,110 Palestinian deaths and 55,243 injuries. In the last 24 hours alone, 195 Palestinians have been murdered and 325 injured by Israeli forces.

The 2.3 million residents of the enclave have all been forced from their homes—many of them many times.

As families continued to fight for the release of their loved ones, a massive clock in Tel Aviv kept track of the amount of time that had passed since Hamas snatched the hostages.

This week, Israel has increased the frequency of its raids, especially in the central region immediately south of the waterway that splits the short coastal strip. Although many claimed there was nowhere left for them to go, the Israeli army ordered the civilians to evacuate the area.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced that its airplanes had also struck other facilities in Lebanon and Hezbollah military bases. On the border, massive columns of smoke were seen.

According to security sources, since the start of the daily battles, Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has fired more missiles and weaponized drones against Israel on Wednesday than it has ever done in a single day.

The World Health Organization published footage, primarily shot on Monday and Tuesday at several facilities, further emphasizing the challenges in treating the injured in Gaza. According to Sean Casey, coordinator of the WHO emergency medical team, Gaza’s capability for medical care is only 20% of what it was eighty days ago.

“Almost exclusively trauma cases—and at a rate that’s quite hard to believe—come through the door. As we have said previously, it is a devastation and a bloodbath.

🚀 Out of the 10+ rockets fired from Lebanon, only 1-3 were intercepted. There are several direct rocket hits in Kiryat Shmona. https://t.co/SrAPLxQMnd pic.twitter.com/9xry2BDOLk

— Arya – آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) December 27, 2023

Nobody was secure in Gaza, according to Casey.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s Khan Younis facility was struck on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday. On X, it was reported that the hit had damaged the facility, terrified the employees, and displaced those taking refuge there.

Israel claims to be protecting civilians to the best of its ability and accuses Hamas of putting people in danger by operating among them—a claim that Hamas disputes. President Joe Biden has described “indiscriminate bombing” as a cause of civilian deaths, and even the US, Israel’s closest friend, has acknowledged that more has to be done to stop it.

The Israeli military declared that it was going to keep hitting targets in Gaza that resisted its attacks, even using its naval to take out individuals thought to be a danger to ground forces.

According to a military statement, an Israeli attack on fighters on foot in Gaza City’s Shejaia neighborhood resulted in secondary explosions, suggesting the location was set up with explosives to target soldiers.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, an Israeli incursion into the city of Tulkarm resulted in the deaths of six adolescents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. According to a statement from the Israeli military, fighters engaged Israeli forces engaged in a counterterrorism operation by throwing explosive devices at them. It stated that an Israeli air force jet had struck the attackers.

The boys, according to the locals, were neither militants nor warriors.

“It was an unfathomable sight, something you just cannot gaze upon,” remarked Saida Famawi, a mother of one of the young men.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, stated in an interview with Egyptian TV that while Israel wanted to remain in Gaza following the conflict, “the whole world does not agree with it.”

He asserted that the United States might “order” Israel to consent to Gaza’s inclusion in a future Palestinian state.