The war in Gaza has overridden that truce, and health officials were counting more than 80 Palestinians killed just on Thursday, some from airstrikes, others from shelling. As the Israeli military intensified its airstrikes throughout the area Friday, hospitals were already overwhelmed and forced to turn away incoming casualties, according to health officials. Ahmad Al-Fara, spokesman for Nasser Hospital, verified 35 corpses were brought to the establishment by Thursday early morning.
The director of Nasser Hospital announced even more tragic news. Twelve others were killed in various other strikes across Gaza City. In Khan Younis, 15 individuals were killed as they waited for assistance. They were brought close to the distribution points operated by the US-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Eyewitnesses described scenes of pandemonium and gun shots. They painted the situation as a “death trap,” where those in need of medical attention were met with violence.
More devastation came in Khan Younis, where 20 people were killed in raids that hit concentrated encampments. The toll continued to rise in Gaza City after a school that had been converted to a displacement center was struck. This horrible accident led directly to 15 deaths and at least 25 other people injured, with most receiving serious burns. Dr. Mohammad Abu Silmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, reported that 25 individuals were killed in this incident, describing the heart-wrenching scene as filled with “charred bodies of the martyrs and children.”
Fares Afana, first through the darkened streets of Beit Lahiya, heads Emergency and Medical Services in northern Gaza. He organized the evacuation of the wounded from the school building. The Israeli army’s airstrikes over the past day have targeted various locations throughout Gaza City and Khan Younis, contributing to the significant rise in casualties.
As the now ten month long war rages on, there has been an ever deteriorating humanitarian crisis with hospitals being overrun and resources running out. In recent days, these civilian casualties have sounded the alarm as news spreads that seeking humanitarian aid is becoming more dangerous than obtaining weapons.
