Israel continued its brutal bombardment of southern Gaza’s main city on Monday after Palestinian resistance group Hamas warned no Israeli captives would leave the territory alive unless its demands for prisoner releases were met.
Israel’s barbaric offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and killed at least 18,000 people, mostly women and children.
The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that dozens of people had been killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, while Israel’s army reported rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.
An AFP correspondent reported that Israeli strikes on Monday hit the main southern city of Khan Yunis, while Palestinian fighters of the Islamic Jihad group said they had blown up a house where Israeli soldiers were searching for a tunnel shaft.
Israel says there are still 137 captives in Gaza, while activists say around 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails.
AFP visited the bombed-out ruins of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and found at least 30,000 people taking refuge amid the rubble after Israeli forces raided the medical facility last month.
“Our life has become a living hell, there’s no electricity, no water, no flour, no bread, no medicine for the children who are all sick,” said Mohammed Daloul, 38, who fled there with his wife and three children. Mapping software deployed by Israel’s army to try to reduce non-combatant deaths was condemned as inadequate Sunday by Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.—Agencies
