Israeli raids on Rafah amid fear of the repercussions of the expected Israeli ground attack on the city crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people (French)

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression on the Strip reached 28,176 martyrs, in addition to 67,784 injured since the seventh of last October.

The Ministry reported - in a statement today, Sunday - that 112 martyrs were killed and 173 others were injured in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, while the occupation forces expanded the scope of their raids on the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported - today, Sunday - that a Palestinian was killed by Israeli sniper bullets in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. He also reported a short while ago that the occupation forces were forcing the displaced people in UNRWA shelter centers in Khan Yunis to leave them.

On Sunday morning, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced the death of 3 patients, due to the occupation preventing the entry of oxygen into Al Amal Hospital for about a week.

The Red Crescent said that the occupation forces destroyed medical equipment inside Al-Amal Hospital, and attacked the medical staff before arresting 9 of them. He denied the validity of the reports that the occupation brought medical equipment into the hospital.

He explained that the Israeli occupation continues to prevent the entry of fuel needed to operate generators into the hospital, which threatens to stop service there.

Raids and widespread destruction

Al Jazeera's correspondent had previously reported that a Palestinian woman was killed and others were injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted a home for the Abu Salmiya family in Deir al-Balah camp in the central Gaza Strip. He also reported that injuries and martyrs had arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli bombing.

In the Brazil neighborhood, south of Rafah, two Palestinian police officers were martyred in an Israeli air strike that targeted their car. A similar raid rocked the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood yesterday morning, and led to the martyrdom of the Director of the Investigation Service, his deputy, and the Director of the Supply Investigations in Rafah.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation forces left massive destruction in the Tal al-Hawa area in Gaza City after they withdrew from the area.

Al Jazeera also monitored scenes of massive destruction caused by the Israeli army after its withdrawal from the university area in Gaza City, which includes the Islamic University and Al-Aqsa University. The scenes show great destruction in the area, which also includes the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), and was sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.

Martyrs due to famine in northern Gaza

The Israeli occupation forces are expanding their raids in the Gaza Strip amid catastrophic humanitarian conditions and famine ravaging the population due to the tight siege on the Gaza Strip in general, especially in the northern regions.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in northern Gaza said that several people died of hunger due to a lack of food supplies. He explained that the occupation forces continue to prevent the entry of aid, and confirmed that some families cannot secure a daily meal.

For his part, the Director-General of the Government Media Office in Gaza, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said in statements to Al-Jazeera that the humanitarian situation in the northern Gaza Strip has passed the catastrophic stage. He stressed that some families receive only half a meal within 48 hours, and that citizens in the north cannot even find fodder and grains.

He explained that the specter of famine besieges more than 400,000 citizens in the North Gaza Governorate, and added that the humanitarian situation in the governorate has passed the stage of disaster, in light of the policy of starvation, thirst and siege followed by Israel.

Al-Thawabta said that the occupation prevents trucks from reaching the northern Gaza Strip governorate, and added, "We hold the occupation responsible for the siege of the Gaza Strip and preventing the arrival of aid," calling for an end to the occupation's attacks on civilians and an end to the war. He also called for pressure on the occupation to break the siege.

Warnings

For her part, UNRWA spokeswoman Tamara Al-Rifai said that “danger now looms on the horizon” in light of the risks of the Israeli occupation forces targeting the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, where displaced people are currently crowded.

Al-Rifai explained that there was no longer another place for people to move to in the far south of the Gaza Strip, and she stressed that launching an operation on Rafah would mean killing more residents of the Gaza Strip.

Kazem Abu Khalaf, spokesman for UNRWA in Jerusalem, also confirmed that more than half of the residents of the Gaza Strip in Rafah have no place to seek refuge. He explained in a statement to Al Jazeera that the agency’s experience “proves that there is no place or safe humanitarian corridor in Gaza.”

Despite mounting international warnings of a possible Israeli invasion of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "not entering Rafah will lead to losing the war and preserving Hamas."

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies