‘Safe’ evacuation zone of Deir al-Balah is hit amid some of the deadliest fighting in the war
The Gaza Strip is facing some of the deadliest fighting to date in the present war as Israel expands its offensive just days after the UN security council passed a resolution calling for more aid and urgent steps for a sustainable ceasefire.
More than 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes late on Sunday in the centre of the besieged Palestinian territory, including at least 70 in bombings that hit a residential block in the Maghazi refugee camp near Deir al-Balah, health officials in the Hamas-controlled exclave said.
Deir al-Balah was also hit overnight despite previously being identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an “evacuation zone” for Palestinians fleeing the fighting.
The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage from al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, in Deir al-Balah, showing dazed and bloodied children covered in rubble dust. There were also dozens of white body bags
At the scene of the attack on Maghazi, people screamed and shouted in the dark as they tried to dig for survivors from the collapsed buildings.
“We were all targeted,” Ahmad Turkomani, who lost several family members, including his daughter and grandson, told the Associated Press. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway.”
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the Maghazi incident.
The latest casualties came after an earlier announcement on Sunday from the Gaza health ministry that Israeli airstrikes had killed 166 Palestinians in 24 hours, one of the single deadliest days of the 12-week-old conflict.
More than 20,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war in response to the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, in which the Palestinian militant group killed 1,140 people and seized another 240 as hostages.
This year’s Christmas celebrations across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories were cancelled in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Instead of the traditional parade and joyous midnight service in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was believed to have been born, Palestinian Christians held a subdued mass with hymns and prayers for peace.
