The Gaza Strip faced relentless Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, resulting in widespread destruction, dozens of casualties, and the targeting of civilian homes, medical facilities, and agricultural areas.
Amid an ongoing conflict that has devastated the region for over 14 months, the latest attacks killed men, women, and children in several areas across the Strip.
From Khan Yunis in the south to Beit Hanoun in the north, residents endured a day of terror, with strikes on homes, parks, and shelters displacing and injuring countless families.
Three Palestinians, including two women, were killed and others injured on Wednesday after Israeli airstrikes targeted a house belonging to the Abu Yousef family in the town of Khuza’a, in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes raided agricultural land in the Abu Rida neighborhood, also in eastern Khuza’a.
In Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, four civilians were killed and several others wounded when Israeli strikes targeted a house in the Beit Hanoun estate.
AL-JAZEERA: Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid on a house in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/5s8APvKhI6
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 18, 2024
Israeli fighter jets also bombed eastern areas of the Zaytoun neighborhood in southeast Gaza City. Simultaneously, artillery shelling hit eastern Khuza’a and Al-Janina, east of Rafah.
In the central Gaza Strip, two citizens were killed, and others injured after a bombing struck Mufti Land Park near the Nuseirat refugee camp. A drone attack on a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir al-Balah caused two more fatalities and additional injuries.
Northern Gaza also witnessed heavy bombardment. Warplanes targeted a house in Jabalia al-Balad, as vehicles fired in the Sudanese area northwest of Gaza City. Artillery shelling struck areas south of the Sabra and Zaytoun neighborhoods.
In Gaza City’s Al-Daraj neighborhood, warplanes hit a house belonging to the Qwaider family on Al-Sahaba Street, resulting in three injuries.
Near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, three homes were bombed, killing and wounding multiple civilians, including a paramedic. Al-Awda Hospital reported injuries among medical crews and patients following a nearby explosion.
Further south, a drone strike in Rafah claimed the life of a citizen who was later transported to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis.
Israeli forces also detained two fishermen off the coast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Gaza’s civil defense crews and hospitals continue to struggle with the scale of destruction and casualties as the bombardment persists.
Israeli occupation forces opened heavy gunfire on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/QmG8kVywyO
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 18, 2024
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 45,059 Palestinians have been killed, and 107,041 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, WAFA)
