Gruesome Toll in Gaza: Death Toll Surges to 59
Intense Conflict: Over 59 Palestinians Lost Lives in Gaza as Israel Intensifies Aerial Assault; Evacuation Orders Issued for Beit Hanoon and Sheikh Zeid
The death toll in Gaza has escalated drastically following a series of relentless Israeli attacks, with at least 59 lives lost—including children—according to reports from medical sources to Al Jazeera.
Rescue teams and medics in the beleaguered enclave confirmed that over a dozen members from the same family were among the casualties,tragically killed when their home in northern Gaza's Jabalia was targeted on Thursday.
Six members of another family—a couple and their four children—perished when an air strike obliterated their home in Gaza City. The civil defense issued a sobering statement concerning the horrific incident.
Ahmed Arar, a first responder in Gaza City, described the disaster in stark terms, saying there were "large quantities of body parts and remains", including those of many children, post-attack. "There are only hands, legs, and heads. They are all severed and torn," Arar shared with Al Jazeera.
Adding to the catalogue of tragedies, an additional 10 individuals were killed, with several others sustaining injuries in a strike on a former police station in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.
Speaking to the harrowing scene, 23-year-old Abdel Qader Sabah from Jabalia recounted, "Everyone started running and screaming, not knowing what to do from the horror and severity of the bombing."
Israeli military claimed responsibility for striking what they termed a Hamas "command and control center" in the Jabalia area, without providing clarity on whether it was targeting the police station. Israel's history reveals a pattern of similar justifications for attacks on hospitals and numerous shelters housing displaced Palestinian families.
Preliminary reports indicate that at least 26 more lives were lost in other Israeli attacks across the territory, according to medics and the civil defense agency.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, shared that the devastation in Gaza is escalating at an alarming rate, with civil defence crews still working tirelessly to dig through the rubble at the scene of the latest attack in Jabalia. A rescue worker reported that many of the victims sustained burn wounds.
Looming Threat of Escalation
Israel resumed military operations in the Gaza Strip on March 18, marking the end of a two-month ceasefire. The military continues to block essential border crossings for the eighth consecutive week, withstanding the entry of crucial aid, including medical supplies and fuel, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis amidst constant bombardment.
Israel's army chief, while visiting troops in Gaza on Thursday, threatened a "larger" offensive if captives seized in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, are not released.
"If we do not see progress in the return of the hostages in the near future, we will expand our activities to a larger and more significant operation," Eyal Zamir warned.
Concurrently, the Israeli military ordered Palestinians living in the northern areas of Beit Hanoon and Sheikh Zeid to evacuate in anticipation of an attack.
The United Nations has cautioned that Israel's expanding evacuation orders across Gaza are resulting in the "forcible transfer" of people into increasingly cramped zones. Aid agencies approximate that the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since the conflict broke out.
Other notable events that transpired on Thursday include the Durra Children's Hospital in Gaza City becoming nonoperational, following an Israeli strike that struck the upper part of the building, damaging the intensive care unit and destroying the facility's solar power panel system.
Gaza's health system has suffered tremendously due to Israel's ongoing military campaign, leaving many of its hospitals incapacitated, killing medical personnel, and depleting vital resources.
Efforts by key mediators Qatar and Egypt, in conjunction with the United States, have thus far failed to produce a lasting ceasefire.
Since Israel resumed its military operations, at least 1,978 people have perished in Gaza, which raises the overall death toll to at least 51,355 since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The military reported Thursday that Israeli tank fire killed a UN worker in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah last month, based on preliminary findings from an investigation. Previously, the military had denied operating in the area where a Bulgarian employee of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) was killed on March 19.
These recent developments underscore the volatility of the region as the attacks continue to claim innocent lives, further straining the fragile ceasefire agreement, and exacerbating the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
- The breaking news of the escalating war in Gaza continues, with the death toll surging to 59, including children, according to reports from medical sources to Al Jazeera.
- The severity of the war-and-conflicts in Gaza is highlighted by the tragic incident in Jabalia, where over a dozen members from the same family were among the casualties, tragically killed when their home was targeted.
- In the general news, Israeli military operations in Gaza have resumed, marking the end of a two-month ceasefire, and the military continues to block essential border crossings, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
- The policy-and-legislation of Israel's expanding evacuation orders across Gaza are being met with caution from the United Nations, who warn that these orders could result in the "forcible transfer" of people into increasingly cramped zones.
- In crime-and-justice news, an additional tragedy was reported as a UN worker was killed in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah, according to preliminary findings from an investigation by the Israeli military.
- As the war in Gaza continues, issues of health and humanitarian aid are at the forefront, with Gaza's health system suffering tremendously due to Israel's ongoing military campaign, leaving many of its hospitals incapacitated and depleting vital resources.
- Efforts to establish peace in the region through mediation by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States have thus far been unsuccessful, with at least 1,978 people having perished in Gaza since Israel resumed its military operations.
