Massive destruction caused by the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip (Reuters)

Al Jazeera's correspondent said that Israeli occupation aircraft carried out a series of raids and violent fire belts north of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and while fierce battles continued between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation army in the western regions of the cities of Gaza and Khan Tunis, Israel acknowledged more military losses.

Al-Aqsa satellite channel said that the occupation artillery is intensively bombarding the eastern areas of Rafah, while its gunboats are bombing the western areas near the Egyptian border.

A few days ago, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant threatened to invade the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt, to which 1,400,000 Palestinians were displaced to escape the Israeli bombing in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

Smoke rose from an area bombed by the Israeli occupation near a school housing displaced people in the city of #Rafah, south of the #Gaza Strip #Gaza_War #Video pic.twitter.com/hhfL6o0iaO

- Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) February 7, 2024

In a related context, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation forces blew up several homes in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, coinciding with the continued aerial and artillery bombardment of the eastern and western areas of the city.

In Gaza City, the occupation forces continued to bomb residential squares north and southwest of the city, as part of a plan to create a buffer zone near the security fence.

Bombing and snipers

An Al Jazeera correspondent said that 6 Palestinians - including a Palestinian woman and her daughter - were martyred and others were injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted two homes in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian was also martyred and others were injured by occupation army snipers in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

In Khan Yunis, a woman was martyred after being shot by an Israeli sniper at the gate of Nasser Medical Hospital, while she was crossing the street leading to the hospital to fill drinking water.

Press coverage: Occupation army snipers opened fire on a woman who was going to get water from Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis pic.twitter.com/v3KrWe44Db

- Quds News Network (@qudsn) February 7, 2024

Two people were also martyred by occupation forces' fire at the UNRWA Hayat School in the city of Khan Yunis.

In the central Gaza Strip, the people of Deir al-Balah mourned the bodies of a number of martyrs at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli occupation aircraft bombing several homes in the city yesterday evening, Tuesday.

The bodies of other martyrs from Khan Yunis also arrived at the hospital following an Israeli bombing that targeted a school housing displaced people.

Fierce battles

On the ground, violent clashes continue between the resistance and the Israeli occupation forces in the western neighborhoods of the cities of Gaza and Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army announced the death of a soldier due to wounds he sustained in the Gaza battles. The occupation army had announced the death of David Shakuri (officer with the rank of major), deputy commander of the 601st Battalion of the Iron League in the Combat Engineering Corps, during the ongoing battles in the northern Gaza Strip.

This brings the announced number of Israeli officers and soldiers killed to 564, including 234 since the start of the ground operation.

The Israeli army also announced that 3 of its soldiers were injured during the past hours, and said that the number of injuries among its ranks since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip reached 2,828 officers and soldiers, including 429 officers and soldiers who were seriously injured since the start of the war.

On the other hand, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said that it killed 7 Israeli soldiers who were holed up in an apartment near a school west of Khan Yunis after targeting them with an anti-fortified shell.

The brigades also said that its fighters were able to take down a Quadcopter drone that was flying in the airspace of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, on an intelligence mission.

In turn, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced that it had targeted, with two shells, soldiers barricaded in a house west of Khan Yunis, killing and wounding them.

The Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast images of its fighters, in conjunction with the Al-Quds Brigades, targeting crowds of occupation forces with missiles on the fighting frontlines in Gaza City.

Health breakdown

On the humanitarian side, a French medical mission that returned from Gaza said that the health conditions in the Strip have almost completely collapsed in all hospitals, warning of the catastrophic situation of the hospitals and their workers.

The mission - which moved on a humanitarian mission to the European Hospital in the Gaza Strip during the last two weeks - said that the conditions for providing health services are completely non-existent, and called on humanitarian organizations to move to provide urgent support to the Gaza Strip’s hospitals.

For his part, the director of the Surgical Hospital at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, Dr. Nahed Abu Taima, said that the complex faces many challenges in light of the siege, most notably the scarcity of fuel and the lack of personnel in the face of the large numbers of injured people.

Abu Ta'imah added in an interview with Al Jazeera that the occupation forces continue to bomb the hospital's surroundings, and warned that hundreds of medical staff members, patients, and thousands of displaced people in the complex's courtyards face an unknown fate in light of the continued siege.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war with American support on Gaza, which as of yesterday, Tuesday, left 27,585 martyrs and 66,978 injured - most of them children and women - according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to the United Nations.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies