By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Arafat Barbakh CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Palestinians sought refuge on Friday after Israeli tanks advanced into the central Gaza Strip and nearly 200 people died in the last 24 hours in cause of bombings and terrorist attacks. artillery attacks on the enclave. Israeli planes attacked the southern Gaza Strip, flattening homes and burying families as they slept, residents said. The new wave of attacks has caused yet another exodus of people who had already been forced to leave their homes. Twelve weeks after Hamas militants attacked Israeli cities, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, much of the Gaza Strip lies destroyed. Nearly all of the region’s 2.3 million people have had to leave their homes at least once, and many are now fleeing attacks again. Health officials in the Gaza Strip said another 187 Palestinians died in Israeli shelling in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 21,507, about 1% of the enclave’s entire population. Thousands of other bodies could be buried in the ruins of entire decimated neighborhoods. In Rafah, in the south, Reuters journalists were at the scene of an air strike that destroyed a building and saw the head of a child buried and displayed in the rubble. Sanad Abu Tabet, a neighbor, said the house was full of homeless people. In the morning the relatives went to collect the bodies and placed them wrapped in white shrouds. A man moved the fabric aside to caress the face of a dead child. “We suffered a lot. We spent the whole night without shelter, in the rain and it was cold. We were with our children and an elderly woman,” said Um Hamdi, a woman who was cooking porridge on the fire, surrounded by children. . Nearby, Abdel Nasser Awadallah stood in a wooden structure that would receive plastic to make a tent. He talked about the family he had lost. “I buried my children: one 16 years old, the other 18. It’s something I really can’t believe, I buried my children at 6 in the morning while their bodies were still warm. Even my nephew, he had 2 years, and I buried Him. I buried my wife,” he reported. “I never thought in my life I would bury my children, I thought they would bury me.” But not even escape is able to guarantee people’s safety. Doctors and residents said Israeli shelling also killed two Palestinians in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Israel says it is doing everything it can to avoid civilian casualties, but the high death toll has caused concern even among its closest allies. The United States has called for a slowdown of the offensive in the coming weeks and for the war to focus on operations against Hamas leaders. So far, however, Israel has shown no sign of wanting to join this plan. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that troops are approaching Hamas command centers and weapons depots: “Our operations are essential to achieving the objectives of the war. We see the results and the destruction of enemy forces” . Israel says it will continue its offensive until it annihilates Hamas, which has vowed to destroy Israel. Palestinians argue that eradicating the militant group is an unattainable goal, due to its widespread structure and its entrenchment in a territory it has ruled since 2007.
Source: Terra
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