The death toll from Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has now reached 2,329, surpassing the total from the 2014 war that lasted nearly two months and is the bloodiest the Palestinian enclave has experienced so far.
The indiscriminate Israeli attack also caused 9,042 injuries, according to the latest data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which called the Israeli campaign triggered by a surprise attack a week ago in Islamist group Hamas “ethnic cleansing.”
That aggression left more than 1,300 dead in Israel, most of them civilians.
Gaza added 55 dead and more than 1,100 injured in the occupied West Bank, where on Friday there were many Palestinian protests broken up with tear gas and live ammunition by Israeli forces.
“In the eight days of the brutal war, the Israeli occupation forces have already killed more people than in the 55-day war of 2014, proving that the crimes committed against our people are equivalent to ethnic cleansing,” said the Ministry’s spokesman, Ashaf al Kudra.
Israel urged the civilians of Gaza City to leave their homes, so as not to serve as human shields for Hamas, and take refuge in the southern half of the Strip, but at the same time it continued to bombard the southern area, as which is confirmed. now the Israeli Armed Forces.
The spokesman of the Arabic information channel of the Israeli Army, Avichay Adraee, repeated this call this Sunday and announced that between 10:00 and 13:00 local time (7:00 to 10:00 GMT) Salahaddin Street, the central artery that passes through the Strip from north to south, to facilitate evacuation.
A statement from the Ministry of Health in Gaza highlighted that since the start of the war, 55 families have been completely destroyed by bombing and accused Israel of waging a “war of extermination” against Gaza.
He rejected Israel’s demand to evacuate several hospitals in Gaza City, which was made public on Friday with an ultimatum several times extended until Saturday afternoon.
“Our moral position obliges us to continue working. We will not abandon the hospitals, even if they destroy them in our heads,” the statement said.
It also criticized the strict blockade of the Strip by Israel, which a few days ago cut off the supply of water, electricity and fuel and did not allow the entry of any goods, even the bombing of the Rafah border crossing in the south, which connects. Gaza with Egypt and which has remained closed ever since.
The Ministry requested the opening of a channel to bring humanitarian aid to the Strip and enable the evacuation of the sick and injured for treatment outside of Gaza.
“The Gaza Strip will suffer a catastrophe if a passage is not opened to bring medical supplies,” he warned.
On the other hand, the spokesperson of the government of Gaza formed by Hamas, Salama Maruf, criticized this Sunday the decision of the French company Eutelsat to cut the broadcast signal of the television channel of Hamas, Al Aqsa.
He attributed this decision, which was also taken during the conflicts of 2010 and 2016, to the “Zionist Lobby” and called it a “violation of freedom of expression.”
