Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza, killing at least 135 Palestinians, including 36 in the so-called “safe zone” of al-Mawasi, reports Al-Jazeera.
Besides, the Israeli occupation has intensified its siege with heavy fire around the Indonesian hospital and its surroundings, preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies -- effectively forcing the hospital out of service, AFP quoted the ministry as saying.
According to Al-Jazeera, the Israeli military has killed at least 135 Palestinians, including children sleeping in tents, as it unleashed a wave of air strikes across the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Sunday.
At least 36 people were killed and more than 100 wounded after Israeli warplanes bombed a tent camp sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Horrific verified videos from the scene showed many bodies, including some on fire. The dead and wounded were taken to a nearby field hospital and the Nasser Medical Complex.
At least 125 people were killed on Sunday morning, including 42 in the heavily-bombarded northern parts of Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic. Three journalists were also among the victims.
The death toll has been rising sharply in the past four days, with hundreds massacred as the Israeli military prepares to significantly intensify its ground invasion of the Palestinian territory despite international criticism.
Hamas said in a statement early on Sunday that the attacks on displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis marked a “brutal crime” that was a flagrant violation of international laws and norms.
“By granting the terrorist occupation government political and military cover, the United States administration bears direct responsibility for this insane escalation in the targeting of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and the elderly,” the Palestinian group said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel’s expanding operation in Gaza. “I am alarmed by reported plans by Israel to expand ground operations and more.”
On Saturday, both Israel and Hamas confirmed that more mediated talks were under way in Qatar.
Israel emphasised that the talks are being held with no conditions, including the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been completely blocked since March 2 despite looming famine.
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Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pull the negotiating team back from Doha talks and refrain from signing any deal with Hamas.
The Israeli military has also been systematically targeting hospitals across the enclave and putting them out of commission, including two hospitals in the past week.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced in a statement on Sunday that the Israeli army had laid siege to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza since dawn.
This meant that “a state of panic and confusion has prevailed among patients, the wounded, and medical staff” as a result of the attacks, hindering medical care with very limited resources still available, it added.
The intensified Israeli attacks have killed 464 people in the past week and rendered all the public hospitals in northern Gaza out of service, says the Health Ministry.
The strikes come as Israel mobilises for a new ground assault on Gaza and resumes ceasefire talks with Hamas in Qatar.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,339 Palestinians and wounded 121,034, according to the Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
AFP reports; the northern part of the Gaza Strip no longer has a single working hospital as of Sunday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The health ministry said in a statement that all public hospitals in the north of the territory were now "out of service" after Israeli forces besieged the Indonesian hospital, the last remaining medical facility in the area.
"The Israeli occupation has intensified its siege with heavy fire around the Indonesian hospital and its surroundings, preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies -- effectively forcing the hospital out of service," AFP quoted the ministry as saying.
"All public hospitals in the North Gaza governorate are now out of service," the statement added.
Israel intensified its offensive in Gaza, with the strikes across the enclave killing at least 103 people overnight and into Sunday, AFP reported, quoting hospital officials and medics.
Pro-Palestinian protesters rally around the world to mark ‘Nakba Day’
Tens of thousands of people have rallied across the world in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s brutal war on Gaza and to mark the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Jewish militias, remembered as the Nakba, or catastrophe.
The Nakba resulted in the permanent mass displacement of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948. Activists say that history is repeating itself today in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
In Stockholm, thousands assembled at Odenplan Square, responding to calls from various civil society organisations to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Participants waved Palestinian flags, displayed photographs of children killed, and carried banners stating: “Stop the Zionist regime’s genocide in Palestine”.
Many demonstrators bore placards listing the names of civilians killed in Gaza, seeking to highlight the ongoing massacre.
Meanwhile, in London, United Kingdom, hundreds of thousands marched towards Downing Street, demanding an end to what they described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza, 77 years on from the Nakba. Protesters, some dressed in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, chanted slogans such as “Stop the genocide in Gaza”, “Free Palestine”, and “Israel is a terror state”.
The demonstrators denounced the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, accusing it of deliberately starving more than two million Palestinians, and criticised the UK government for its political and military backing of Israel, alleging complicity in the humanitarian crisis.
In Berlin, Germany, people gathered at Potsdamer Platz to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and held signs reading: “Your silence is complicity” and “You cannot kill us all”. Women in traditional dress carrying Nakba-themed visuals were also present.
The event took place amid heavy security measures, with at least three people reportedly detained.
A solidarity march was held in Athens, Greece, where protesters, adorned in keffiyehs and carrying Palestinian flags, marched first to the embassies of the United States and Israel.
Protests have erupted after hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past few days as Israel intensified its attacks, with the announcement of a new ground offensive.
Globally, May 15 was observed as the 77th anniversary of the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes following the establishment of Israel in 1948.
The Israeli military has killed 53,272 Palestinians and injured 120,673 since it launched an offensive on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, noting that thousands still missing beneath the rubble are presumed dead.
