At least 60 people were killed when a missile hit a residential area in the Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza city, on Sunday (24/12).
Dozens of residents and emergency response teams are still working hard to find survivors beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.
“We were all targeted, even though we were all civilians,” said Ahmad Turokmani, who lost several family members in the attack.
“There is no safe place in Gaza. They (Israel.ed) told us to leave our homes and go to a safe place in the city center of the Gaza Strip. We came here as ordered, but we became martyrs.”
The dead and injured victims were rushed to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah City.
Smoke rose high above the skyline of the Gaza Strip as Israel pounded the besieged enclave on Christmas Eve.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, the territory ruled by Hamas, said that as of Sunday more than 20,000 residents had been killed and more than 50,000 others injured as a result of a series of Israeli counterattacks from land and air against the Hamas militant group. Meanwhile, 85% of the 2.3 million residents in the enclave were forced to flee.
Israel launched a retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip to destroy the Hamas militant group that attacked Israel’s southern region on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Hamas also held around 240 people hostage, some of whom have since been released.
The Israeli military on Sunday said 14 IDF soldiers were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip this weekend, a sign that Hamas is still fighting back despite a series of ground and air attacks for more than eight weeks. (em/hour)