Israel Intensifies Attacks On Gaza Hospitals, Civilians

Despite growing international pressure for a respite, Israel is continuing to bombard Gaza’s health facilities and residential areas.

Israeli air raids on Sunday and Monday maintained the focus on hospitals and civilian neighbourhoods in the enclave, a tactic that has only encouraged further calls from around the world for a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory as civilian causalities mount.

Mass casualties have been reported following strikes on the Jabalia and Nuseirat refugee camps. Israeli artillery shelling targeted multiple residences in the Shujayea, Tuffah and Daraj neighbourhoods in Gaza City.

Continuous shooting has been reported at the entrance to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. At least 26 Palestinians were killed in an attack on the hospital earlier, Al Jazeera journalists reported.

The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in southern Gaza has been repeatedly targeted over the past 48 hours. An Israeli tank shell hit the maternity building on Sunday, killing a 13-year-old girl, named Dina Abu Mehsen, and injuring several others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

A bomb fell near the building but did not explode, causing a great deal of panic and injuring three people, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra denounced Israel for trying to “eliminate” the besieged enclave’s health sector.

“What the occupation is doing is part of the scenario that began in Northern Gaza from the Shifa complex,” he said.

“Targeting Nasser Medical Complex is part of the occupation’s policy to eliminate the health sector and would bring down the health system in the southern Gaza Strip,” he added.

ALJAZEERA