The death toll in Gaza has risen to 12,000… and Israel: we will strike Hamas everywhere

Middle East

The Israeli army continues its military operations in the Gaza Strip and on Friday intensified its raids across the Strip, while expanding its ground attacks to the south. Palestine TV reported that 9 displaced people were killed in an Israeli shelling of a house west of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. He also revealed that dozens were killed and wounded in an Israeli shelling on a residential square in the middle of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and also that dozens were killed following a shelling on Nuseirat camp.

The director general of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir Al-Bursh, confirmed on Friday that 51 people have been killed inside the Al-Shifa medical complex since the Israeli army stormed the hospital on Wednesday last.

He told the Arab World News Agency (AWP): “Three bodies were buried today morning and the fourth premature baby died, and after his death their number became 35. There are also five premature babies pouring into one state of severe tiredness”. and are expected to die any moment.”

The Hamas government in Gaza announced on Friday that 12,000 people have been killed due to continued Israeli shelling of the Strip since the war broke out on October 7. Among them, he explained, there are 5 thousand children and 3,300 women, underlining that the number of infected people amounts to around 30 thousand people. The number of missing people also rose to more than 3,750, including 1,800 children.

For its part, the Ministry of Health confirmed that dozens of bodies are scattered across the streets of the northern Gaza Strip, and it is impossible to recover and count them accurately due to the intensity of the bombing and ongoing battles.

The Palestinian Shehab news agency reported Friday that an Israeli shelling of an elderly people’s hospital in Gaza resulted in the death of the hospital’s director.

He added on his Telegram account that Israel bombed the Al-Wafa hospital for the elderly in the Al-Zahraa area of ​​the central Gaza Strip, killing the hospital director and wounding others.

Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath correspondent reported an increase in the pace of Israeli shelling in the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital in recent hours. A doctor at Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip said that food and water are running out and that supplies provided by the Israeli army are extremely scarce.

“We will strike Hamas everywhere in Gaza.”

For his part, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported from inside the hospital that Israeli military vehicles were still in the vicinity of the Shifa compound, despite continued Israeli shelling in the vicinity of the hospital, while the army destroyed three buildings belonging to the complex. The journalist said that the Israeli army prevents anyone from leaving the hospital and moving between buildings in the complex.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also announced on Friday that the death toll from Israeli attacks in the West Bank since October 7 had risen to 206.

“The West Bank is on the brink of explosion”

For his part, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ahmed Majdalani, said that the situation in the West Bank is on the verge of explosion due to Israeli measures and continuous and increasing attacks.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Jihad movement, said on Friday that they had shelled Israeli military concentrations in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, with rockets.

The Palestinian News Agency also reported that clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Yaabad, southwest of Jenin. The agency cited sources as saying that Israeli army forces stormed the city and raided several neighborhoods, causing clashes to break out.

The Israeli army’s top spokesman said on Friday that Israeli forces will bomb Hamas targets wherever they find them, including in the southern Gaza Strip, while the forces continue their ground operations in the besieged north of the Strip.

Admiral Daniel Hajari added in a regular press conference: “We are determined to move forward with our operation. This will happen wherever Hamas is present, including the southern Gaza Strip,” and continued: “It will happen in the time, in the place and circumstances more appropriate for the Army.”

“Hamas only understands by force.”

In this context, the Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post” on Friday quoted Defense Minister Yoav Galant, who said that achieving a complete victory over Hamas will avoid wars for a long period in the future. Galant added that although the war with Hamas is a local conflict, the repercussions of this war will affect the entire Middle East region.

The newspaper quoted Gallant as saying, “Complete victory in this war will prevent future wars from breaking out for a long time.” Gallant stressed that the ground operation achieves several objectives, the most important of which is “the destruction of Hamas and the destruction of the movement’s chain of command, be it its leaders, its hideouts or its tunnels”, as he stated. .

The Israeli Defense Minister stressed that the continuation of the attack against Hamas brings Israel closer to recovering the detainees and said: “Hamas only understands force. The more we hit them, the more likely the hostages will be released.”

“Israel is looking for a mirage there.”

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, said on Friday that Al-Qassam fighters managed to destroy and damage 62 Israeli military vehicles over the past four days.

The spokesperson added that Al-Qassam fighters managed “three days ago to kill at least nine Israeli soldiers in two separate operations.” He went on to say that members of the Al-Qassam Brigades on Thursday destroyed a residential apartment where Israeli special forces were barricaded in Beit Hanoun, in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths and injuries of all those holed up there.

Abu Ubaida mocked what the Israeli army was doing at the Shifa Medical Complex and said that Israel was looking for a mirage there, which demonstrated its inability. He added that what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking for in Al-Shifa hospital is “ridiculous”.

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