Continuous bombing for 34 days raises the number of martyrs and wounded and shuts down 40% of Gaza’s hospitals

The Israeli attacks by air, sea and land on the Gaza Strip continue for the 34th day, causing martyrs and wounded, while the government media in Gaza announced that the occupation army directly bombed 8 hospitals within 3 days and caused 18 hospitals to be out of service since the start of the aggression.

The Israeli occupation army committed more massacres in the Gaza Strip during the past hours, by targeting residential neighborhoods, health centres, mosques and schools with air, sea and land bombardment.

At dawn on Thursday, civil defense and ambulance crews recovered the bodies of 6 martyrs and a number of wounded, after the occupation warplanes targeted a house for the Abu Khater family in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. They were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the city.

The Palestinian News Agency "Wafa" also reported that two people were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Wafa explained that the occupation aircraft targeted a house in the camp and flattened it on the heads of those inside it, and a number of them are still under the rubble.

In Gaza City, dozens of Palestinians were injured when occupation aircraft bombed, with several missiles, a house for the Al-Amriti family in the Shawa Square area. They were transferred to Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of the city.

The occupation aircraft also targeted a house in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, wounding a number of Palestinians.

Targeting hospitals

Earlier today (Thursday) at dawn, Israeli fighter jets targeted the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with several raids.

The Palestinian News Agency said, “The occupation aircraft fired several missiles at continuous intervals at the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex,” noting that the bombing led to shrapnel falling in the hospital courtyard, coinciding with the firing of flares in the sky of Gaza City, specifically the Beach Camp.

She added that Israeli fighters also bombed the vicinity of Al-Nasr Hospital, west of Gaza, killing three Palestinians and wounding dozens.

Al-Awda Hospital, in turn, announced the closure of the operating and radiology departments and limited itself to emergency services after running out of fuel as the occupation prevented its entry.

Medical teams in the Gaza Strip are trying to withstand the scarcity of necessary materials and the depletion of fuel and water, amid continuing intense bombardment by the Israeli occupation army. 

The government media in Gaza said that the occupation army directly bombed 8 hospitals within 3 days and caused 18 hospitals to be out of service since the start of the aggression.

Doctors Without Borders announced that more than 40% of hospitals in Gaza had stopped serving.

Doctors Without Borders confirmed that the humanitarian and health situation is catastrophic in the Gaza Strip, and called for a ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid.

In this context, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, warned of the escalation of the occupation’s threats to hospitals and the repeated requests to evacuate the Rantisi Children’s Hospital, calling on the Red Cross to come inside the hospitals to protect them from the occupation.

He called for the ability to work to provide humanitarian corridors for aid and fuel to enter, to allow the exit of the wounded, and for medical teams of all specialties to enter.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the arrival of a convoy carrying medical aid to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Ghebreyesus explained in a blog post published on his account on the X platform that UNRWA delivered 56 tons of additional medical aid provided by the World Health Organization to Al-Shifa Hospital.

He added: "This is the second batch (of medical aid) that we have delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital since October 7. We are happy about that, but the amounts we deliver are far from meeting the growing and continuing needs of the largest hospital in Gaza."

In this context, Jordan announced, on Thursday, the sending of a medical aid plane to the Gaza Strip, with its cargo being entered through the Rafah land crossing in coordination with Egypt.

The Hashemite Charitable Organization (official) added, in a statement, that this plane is the fourth that the Kingdom has sent to Gaza since the start of the Israeli war on the Strip on October 7.

The plane carries about 45 tons of medical supplies to support the health sector in Gaza, according to the statement.

The Jordanian authority continued: "The plane's cargo will arrive in the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian Rafah crossing, to be distributed to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, to provide them with the necessary needs of medicines and medical consumables."

Since the outbreak of the devastating war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, the occupation has cut off supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel to the residents of Gaza, who are about 2.3 million Palestinians who are already suffering from extremely deteriorating conditions, as a result of an ongoing siege for 17 years.

For 34 days, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, in which 10,569 Palestinians were martyred, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, and 26,475 were wounded. 165 Palestinians were martyred and 2,300 were arrested in the West Bank, according to official sources.

Israel arrests 48 Palestinian leaders and prisoners in occupation prisons are subjected to torture

On Thursday, the Israeli police arrested several leaders from the 48 Palestinians, including Muhammad Baraka, head of the Supreme Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens, former Knesset member Haneen Zoabi, and head of the National Rally Party, Sami Abu Shehadeh, while the occupation’s torture of Palestinian prisoners in its prisons continues.

On Thursday, the Israeli police arrested Muhammad Baraka, head of the Supreme Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens (the highest representative body for internal Palestinians in Israel), on charges of attempting to organize a demonstration opposing the war on Gaza, under the pretext that it “may lead to incitement and harm public peace.”

Eyewitnesses told Anatolia that the Israeli police arrested Baraka, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, in the city of Nazareth in northern Israel. They indicated that Baraka was taken to a police station.

The Israeli police also arrested former Knesset member Haneen Zoabi and head of the National Rally Party, Sami Abu Shehadeh, during a protest against the war on Gaza in the city of Nazareth in the north of the country.

For its part, the police said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to Anatolia: “Members of the Northern Region Police arrested for interrogation a member of the follow-up committee who is trying, contrary to police instructions, to organize a demonstration that may lead to incitement and harm public peace.”

The Israeli police prevented demonstrations rejecting the devastating war on Gaza, which claimed thousands of Palestinian civilian lives. The police said: “The Israel Police will not allow any attempt to violate public peace or incitement, and will take strict measures against anyone who attempts this.”

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court in Israel rejected a petition submitted by Arab citizens objecting to the police’s refusal to authorize demonstrations in the cities of Umm al-Fahm and Sakhnin (northern Israel), in protest against the war on Gaza, while the Israeli police allow demonstrations by the families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza who are demanding the return of their children.

Torture and abuse of prisoners in occupation prisons

In a related context, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are subjected to physical and verbal torture and deprivation of the necessities of life, according to testimonies of released prisoners.

One of the prisoners who was recently released from Megiddo Prison (north) told the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, “The Israeli soldiers drag (drag) the detainee and ask him to kiss the occupation flag, and if he does not do that, he will be severely beaten.”

He added: "When I arrived at Megiddo prison, I imagined myself in Abu Ghraib prison (the notorious American prison in Iraq). If it were not for my faith, I would have lost my mind." He pointed out that the prisoners "are subjected to severe beatings, abuse and insults, and are not treated for their injuries."

He spoke of "huge overcrowding in the prisoners' rooms, as there are 11-18 prisoners in one room, most of whom sleep on the floor without blankets." He explained that "the food provided to the prisoners is only two meals a day per room, namely (a boiled egg) and (boiled potatoes), which are very poor, and are only enough for two prisoners."

He pointed out that all the prisoners’ possessions, including clothes, shoes, and the cantina, were confiscated, and the prisoner was left with nothing but what he was wearing.

According to Prisoner Club data, since October 7, Israel has arrested 2,300 Palestinians.

Various parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem witness daily raids and incursions into villages and towns by Israeli army forces, accompanied by confrontations, arrests, and shooting and tear gas bombs at Palestinians. October left thousands of civilians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women.

With a prison sentence of one year, the Knesset approves a law criminalizing watching pro-Hamas content

The Israeli Knesset approved a temporary law for two years, criminalizing watching content supportive of the Hamas movement, with a prison sentence of up to a year. Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights center “Adalah” condemned the law and announced that it would appeal it before the Supreme Court.

The Israeli Knesset approved a law that criminalizes watching content supportive of the Palestinian Hamas movement, with a prison sentence of up to a year.

The Knesset stated in a statement that it had finally approved on Wednesday evening “the proposal for the Anti-Terrorism Law, Amendment No. 9, Temporary Legislation, Consumption of Terrorist Publications for the Year 2023.”

He explained that the law stipulates "the addition of temporary legislation for a period of two years that includes a violation that prohibits the systematic and continuous consumption of certain publications by Hamas and ISIS that include praise, support, or encouragement to commit terrorist acts or document a terrorist act that accompanies the consumption and viewing of publications."

He added: "However, consuming and viewing posts spontaneously, naively or for a legitimate purpose will not be viewed as prohibited consumption of posts."

Referring to the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, he said: “The need for the law has increased in light of the current security situation and the fear of hostile organizations exploiting it.”

The statement stressed that "intensive viewing of hostile publications related to specific organizations would create an indoctrination process similar to self-brainwashing, and this would likely lead to creating a will and motivation to carry out a hostile operation."

For its part, the Israeli human rights center "Adalah" condemned the law, which it noted criminalizes viewing content, with a penalty of up to one year in prison.

He said in a statement on Wednesday: “This law is one of the most intrusive and brutal legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset, because it makes ideas subject to criminal punishment.”

He added: “At a time when the Israeli authorities are intensifying their campaign to stifle the freedom of expression of Palestinian citizens of Israel, conducting widespread monitoring of their online communications, and carrying out unprecedented arrests on alleged charges related to expression, the Israeli Knesset has passed legislation criminalizing even the negative use of social media.”

He continued: “This legislation violates the sacred space of an individual’s personal thoughts and beliefs, and severely amplifies state monitoring of social media use.”

Adalah confirmed that it would “submit a petition to the Supreme Court to challenge this law,” without specifying a date.

Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, the Israeli police have intensified their arrests of Arab citizens in Israel on the grounds of supporting the Hamas movement or identifying with it through social media.