The Israeli occupation continues its bombing of the Gaza Strip, amid the displacement of more than half a million people, and the death toll rising to 6,546. The Strip is also suffering from a fuel and energy shortage crisis that threatens the work of relief organizations.
The death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza rose on Wednesday, since October 7, to 6,546 martyrs, including 2,704 children, 1,584 women, and 364 elderly people, in addition to 17,439 wounded, most of them children and women, while about 1,500 citizens are still under the rubble of the homes that were bombed. , including 630 children.
Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said on Wednesday, “The Israeli occupation committed 44 massacres in the past hours.” He added: "It is noteworthy that the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation were concentrated in the southern region of the Gaza Strip."
He continued: "We received 1,600 reports of missing persons, including 900 children who are still under the rubble."
Al-Qudra added: “The health system in Gaza is out of service and is in a state of complete collapse.” He pointed out that "targeting the health system led to the damage of 57 institutions, the martyrdom of 73 medical staff, and the destruction of 25 ambulances and their out of service."
Al-Qudra said, "The Israeli occupation directly targeted health institutions, threatening to bomb all hospitals if they were not evacuated, and putting 12 hospitals and 32 primary care centers out of service as a result of the targeting or failure to bring in fuel."
On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Israeli occupation aircraft intensified their bombing of the Gaza Strip, targeting various areas in the Strip.
The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) reported, “A number of citizens were martyred and others were injured in a bombing that targeted a house in the Beach Camp, west of Gaza City.”
The agency added: “The occupation aircraft raided the vicinity of Al-Faraj Mosque in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, as well as Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, a house near the Italian Tower in Gaza, and the Al-Halis building near Al-Quds Hospital, south of Gaza City.”
The government media office in Gaza said on Tuesday evening that “the occupation has bombed the Gaza Strip with more than 12,000 tons of explosives” since October 7.
The office added in a statement that the effect of these explosives "is equal to the power of the (atomic) bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima."
He continued: "33 tons of explosives were dropped on every square kilometer in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression."
The area of Gaza is about 365 square kilometers, and about 2.3 million Palestinians live in the Strip.
600 thousand displaced people
In the same context, the United Nations Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a report published on Tuesday that 600,000 people were displaced in the besieged Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks.
The report stated that 54 aid trucks have arrived in Gaza since October 21, carrying food, water and medicines.
She added that the sheltering of displaced Palestinians took place through 150 UNRWA shelters, noting that 10,000 people were displaced during the last 24 hours.
The organization said, "Shelters have four times their capacity, and many people are sleeping on the streets."
She added, "At least 40 of our facilities were affected by the conflict in Gaza.
Fuel crisis
In a related context, UNRWA warned on Tuesday that it would be forced to stop working throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday if it did not refuel.
“We are running out of time,” said Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications. “We urgently need fuel.”
The World Health Organization reported on Tuesday that “six hospitals across Gaza have already been closed due to fuel shortages.”
The organization added that it "was able to deliver limited supplies with support from UNRWA to four hospitals on Monday (...), however, this is only enough to keep ambulances and vital hospital functions operating for a little more than 24 hours."
The Israeli occupation refuses to bring fuel into the Gaza Strip, claiming that Hamas uses it in its military operations.
Mark Regev, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN: “We have no interest at the present time in the Hamas military machine receiving more fuel, and we did not allow fuel.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that Gaza is now witnessing “enormous suffering,” calling on Israel at the same time to protect civilians.
He told the UN Security Council in New York that "the continuing bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the level of civilian casualties, and the comprehensive destruction of neighborhoods continues to escalate, which is a matter of great concern."
The Secretary-General expressed “deep concern about the clear violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza,” and stressed that “no party to the armed conflict is not above this law,” without explicitly referring to Israel.
For the nineteenth day, Israel continues to launch intensive raids on Gaza, leaving thousands of civilians martyred and wounded, and cutting off its supplies of water, electricity, food and medicine, which sparked local and international warnings of a double humanitarian catastrophe, in parallel with intense Israeli raids and arrests in cities and towns of the occupied West Bank.
In response to “daily Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and their sanctities,” Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, at the beginning of which they stormed Israeli settlements and military sites around the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan: Hamas is not a terrorist organization.. and we canceled our plans to visit Israel
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Hamas is a national liberation movement, refusing to describe it as terrorism, criticizing Israel’s behavior and attacks on Gaza, describing them as “brutal,” and confirming that he canceled a scheduled visit to Tel Aviv.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday refused to describe the Palestinian Hamas movement as terrorist, stressing that it is a national liberation movement, criticizing Israel and describing its attacks as “brutal and against humanity.”
This came during a speech delivered by Erdogan before the parliamentary bloc of the Justice and Development Party in Ankara.
Erdogan stressed that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but rather a liberation movement that includes mujahideen struggling to defend their people and land.
President Erdogan pointed out that "Israel misused our goodwill, and I canceled my plan to visit Tel Aviv."
He continued, "The criminals behind the massacre in Gaza are those who support Israel without borders. Israel must search for peace around it in the countries of the region because it will need the mercy and compassion of Turkey as it was 500 years ago, and it will come and search for it when the West turns its back on it."
Erdogan stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of corridors for humanitarian aid.
He added: "The Israeli attacks on Gaza indicate criminality and mental disorder among those who carry out and support them."
Erdogan criticized Israel's actions, saying that it was acting like an organization, not a state.
He continued: "Turkey does not owe Israel anything, and its actions indicate that it is an organization, not a state."
He stressed that what Israel is doing "is not self-defense, but rather brutality against humanity."
Erdogan stated that Turkey sent "eight planes loaded with aid to Egypt in order to deliver it to Gaza," reiterating his call to always open "the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid and not to obstruct the arrival of aid to Gaza."
He added, "We expect from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation this time, at least, an effectiveness worthy of its founding goal of defending the Palestinian cause and the sanctity of Jerusalem."
Erdogan stated that next October 28 will witness the Justice and Development Party organizing “a large mass mobilization in Istanbul for the sake of Palestine.”
At dawn on October 7, Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza launched Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” in response to “the continuing attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinian people, their property, and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.”
On the other hand, the Israeli army launched Operation Iron Swords and continues to launch intensive raids on many areas in the Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by more than two million Palestinians who suffer from deteriorating living conditions.