Gaza’s Health Ministry has disclosed that the current death toll in the besieged Palestinian territory due to Israeli strikes stands at 25,700.
It added that at least 210 people were killed over the past 24 hours with nearly 400 others wounded.
A statement said that the number of injured now stands at 63,740 since the fighting started.
The Israeli military disclosed that it killed “numerous” squads of gunmen “with sniper, tank and aerial fire” in western Khan Younis close to the southern city’s two main hospitals.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra accused Israel of targeting Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility still operating, saying attacks blocked access for medics and patients and threatened to put it out of action.
It was reported that people fleeing the vicinity of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis have been shot at by Israeli tanks as well as attack drones. Civil defence crews are trying to collect the bodies and identify the dead. The number of killed is expected to grow in the coming hours.
To the western part of Khan Younis, a surge in aerial attacks as well as artillery shelling was seen.
Entire families are being surrounded by Israeli military tanks and armoured vehicles. They are ordered to evacuate from their homes and to get outside. Women are separated from the men with their hands on top of their heads.
The compound of Al-Aqsa University, where thousands have been sheltering, is effectively under military siege.
No one can get out of that area. Anyone who tries to leave risks losing their life as there is constant shelling and attacks by land and by air.
“The occupation is placing the lives of medical teams, patients, the injured, and the displaced in several hospitals in Khan Younis in danger,” Ashraf al-Qudra said.
Israel said that it killed about 9,000 Palestinian fighters in total since the war began, a number Hamas officials dismissed as an attempt to “portray a fake victory.”
As the world celebrates International Day of Education, the Israeli occupation has deprived more than 625,000 students in the Gaza Strip of education.
At least 4,551 students have been killed Gaza and the occupied West Bank with 8,193 others wounded, the Palestinian education ministry.
Israeli bombardment of Gaza has affected 90 percent of government schools and educational buildings. According to the UN, all of its schools have closed.
Risk Of Death From Starvation Threatens Gazans
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) disclosed that the risk of death from starvation threatens about half a million citizens in Gaza City and northern Gaza, who remained and refused to leave their homes despite the destruction and devastation caused by the Israeli bombing.
In a press statement, the PNGO said that Palestinians, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, are living in catastrophic and inhumane conditions after they ran out of basic food supplies.
“The network holds the international community fully responsible for this crisis resulting from the occupation war and its siege imposed on our people,” the statement said.
It added that the siege imposed by Israel as well as the prevention of the entry of humanitarian relief is part of a deliberate war crime committed within the framework of starvation policies against defenceless civilians, and an attempt to force citizens to leave their homes.
The civil defence team in the Gaza Strip also announced that the absence of primary medical aid supplies has led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians.
It pointed out that lives and safety of children in shelter centres are threatened because of the cold weather and prevailing poor conditions.
The emergency services added the policy of targeting populated centres continues on a daily basis in the Gaza City area and elsewhere in the north.
READ ALSO: 2024 Elections: UN Peace Ambassador Urges Ghanaians To Safeguard Ghana’s Democracy
