Over forty-four Palestinians, including fifteen children, were killed on Saturday as Israel committed continuous airstrikes in the Gaza Strip as a pre-emptive strike due to claims from the Israel government about threats of a future attack.
Khaled Mansour, a commander of the Islamic Jihad at the south of the Gaza Strip, was killed during an Israeli raid on Saturday, the second commander of the armed group to be killed after its other commander, Taysir al-Jabari, was killed on Friday, according to al-Jazeera.
The airstrike that killed Mansour targeted a three-storey apartment building built near a refugee camp, which flattened the building and left many houses badly damaged from the attack. Mansour’s funeral on Sunday was used as an opportunity for Israel to bomb suspected “Islamic Jihad rocket launch posts” in the area, PBS News Hour reported.
“Suddenly, without warning, the house next to us was bombed and everything became black and dusty with smoke in the blink of an eye,” Wissam Jouda, who lived close to the building, said.
The airstrikes, which started on Friday, have injured over 300 Palestinians and killed forty-four, including fifteen children. Israel claims that, after they began the attack, militants targeted 580 rockets to Israel, which was intercepted by the country’s Iron Dome, the Guardian reported.
The violence from Israel was preempted by the country stopping the fuel deliveries to Gaza, causing blackouts due to lack of fuel and forcing the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the area to only have electricity for four hours a day.
“[The Israelis] are attacking civilians, they are attacking premises, residential areas. Nobody knows what will happen in the coming hours,” Dr. Medhat Abbas from the Gaza Health Ministry said.
“This is an appeal to extend a helping hand to the ministry of health in Gaza Strip right now. There’s a shortage of electricity. It’s been declared now that it will only be four hours a day. This means we will rely in the hospitals on generators. Generators consume half a million liters every month. We do not have this fuel right now.”
A truce was brokered on Sunday between Israel and the Islamic Jihad to stop the bombings and declare a ceasefire, though many are wondering how long it will remain before the fighting begins anew.
“The situation is still very fragile, and I urge all parties to observe the ceasefire,” said UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
