Jerusalem, Dec 26 (EFE).- At least 241 people have been killed and 382 injured in attacks by the Israeli Army in Gaza in the last 24 hours, taking the total casualties to about 21,000 dead and nearly 55,000 wounded since the start of the Israeli military offensive.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, there were “18 massacres against entire families” by Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours in the coastal enclave.
Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement that Israeli strikes were carried out near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Al Qudra said his medical center could meet the same fate as other hospitals in the Gaza Strip, such as Al Shifa in the north, the most important one in Gaza, which had to suspend their services and is barely operational because of the attacks.
After 81 days of war, the total deaths counted by the ministry have reached 20,915 and 54,918 have been found to be wounded, while the bodies of more than 7,000 Gazans are estimated to be still under the rubble after Israeli bombings.
The official Palestinian agency Wafa reported Israeli air and artillery shelling in several areas of the Strip, including a house in Khan Younis where 10 people were killed.
The Israeli offensive has Khan Younis among its major targets, where it has ordered the evacuation of several areas of the city, which it considers a Hamas stronghold and where leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is suspected of hiding.
The Israeli army has expanded operations across the Strip, with attacks in cities such as Deir al-Balah, in the center of the enclave, and Rafah in the south.
About 1.9 million Gazans, amounting to about 85 percent of the population, have been displaced by the war, causing a severe humanitarian crisis.
Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 resulted in more than 1,200 people dead, while some 240 were taken hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched a military offensive against the Islamist group that spread from the north to the south of Gaza and now also to the center of the Strip. EFE
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