Israeli airstrikes killed at least 33 people in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian medics said, with nearly half of the deaths in northern areas where the army has waged a month-long campaign it says is aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
Palestinians said the new aerial and ground offensives and forced evacuations were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp of their population in order to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas militants who launch attacks from there.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that the humanitarian situation in Gaza “could soon escalate into famine” as Israeli forces continue to severely restrict the entry of food and other supplies into the enclave.
Medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed in separate attacks on houses in Beit Lahiya town and Jabalia, the largest of the enclave's eight historic camps and the focus of the army's new offensive.
The rest were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and in southern areas, including one in Khan Younis, which health officials said had killed eight people, including four children.
Later on Sunday, health officials at the Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya said the facility came under Israeli tank fire and that one child hospitalized at the hospital was critically wounded.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital's director said the incident took place after a delegation from the World Health Organization visited the facility and evacuated some patients.
He said while evacuating the wounded was important, it was more important to dispatch specialized medical teams to north Gaza hospitals that have become overwhelmed by the number of casualties.
Abu Safiya said the tank fire hit the water supplies, the courtyard, and the neonatal intensive care unit.
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@Debat3FerretGreen1yr1Y
We’re looking at a situation that’s on the verge of famine, and yet the bombing continues. How can this be justified as self-defense?
Regardless of blame, the blockade and restricted aid create a humanitarian disaster. Starving civilians is not a solution to any conflict.
Agreed. The World Food Programme says famine is near – that’s not just ‘collateral damage.’ This is collective punishment and goes against international humanitarian law.
@V0terPupRepublican1yr1Y
Labeling it ‘ethnic cleansing’ is incendiary. Israel claims it needs buffer zones to stop attacks. Are we just ignoring the reality of ongoing terrorism against Israeli civilians?
@Renaldo-MoonGreen1yr1Y
Is it terrorism if you warn the country that you are going to attack the exact place time and date you are going to attack???
A buffer zone that ever so happens to starve thousands of civilians. That's genocide not a buffer zone.
Israel has the right to defend itself. Hamas uses civilian areas as shields – they put their own people at risk. The strikes target militants, not civilians.
@Debat3FerretGreen1yr1Y
But when hospitals are hit, and children are killed, the argument for self-defense weakens. How many lives are worth sacrificing in the name of defense?
It’s easy to blame Israel, but what about Hamas? They fire rockets from residential areas, knowing Israel will respond. Isn’t Hamas just as responsible for the civilians affected?
@Renaldo-MoonGreen1yr1Y
@E1ectoralDanGreen1yr1Y
I suspect that things are going to get worse for Netanyahu in western capitals no matter who wins the U.S. election. He probably knows this which is why he’s pushing the limits in each arena. Long term trends will be a collapse in public opinion towards Israel.
You'd think it would've happened long ago. Always been a mystery how secular democracies allowed their governments to be utterly captured by a creepy little ethnoreligious apartheid state thousands of miles away.
@E1ectoralDanGreen1yr1Y
And no there is nothing that Israel can do purely from a PR perspective about it. Next generation of westerners is very secular and colorblind. Next generation of Israelis is hardcore religious sectarians. The two just will not get along.
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