Beit Hanoun Massacre – Entire Family Killed, Hundreds More Displaced

Gaza’s Health Ministry warned that the blood units have run out at the Nasser Medical Complex’s blood bank.

Israeli forces have besieged some 130 Palestinian families inside a shelter in northern Gaza’s town of Beit Hanoun and forced them to leave at gunpoint, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, 15 members of the Shabbat family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home.

Citing witnesses, the report said the forced displacement came as the Israeli army expanded its offensive in the town as part of its ongoing military operations in the north.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, over 40 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged enclave since the early hours of Wednesday, with at least three airstrikes reported.

Shabbat Family Massacre

The Health Ministry warned that the blood units have run out at the Nasser Medical Complex’s blood bank, and called for blood donations.

The death toll in the Shabbat family massacre rose to 15, the ministry said. Dr. Mohamed Jamal Shabat, along with his wife, children, three sisters and other family members were killed in one of the airstrikes on their home, the Quds News Network reported.

Three children from the Afaneh family were killed in an airstrike on their home near the Al-Fakhoura clinic in Jabalia Camp, northern Gaza Strip.

Airstrike Near UNRWA Clinic

Six Palestinians were reported killed following an Israeli strike targeting a group of citizens west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Homes in the Tanour neighborhood, eastern Rafah, caught fire due to continuous shelling from Israeli forces.

In addition, three Palestinians were reported killed and 11 injured after an airstrike on the Abu Odeh family’s home in New Camp, north of Nusaeirat.

Another six Palestinians were killed after an airstrike targeted a group of people near the UNRWA clinic on Al-Bahr Street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army has continued its siege of northern Gaza since October 5 with no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there on the verge of imminent famine.

Staggering Death Toll

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,552 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,765 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

Millions Displaced

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(PC, Anadolu, QNN)