Israel’s barbarism since October 7 in Gaza has claimed the lives of 40,074 people. Most of them are civilians who do not know anything or have participated in carrying out attacks on areas occupied by Israel under the command of Hamas.
But Israel labels all people in Gaza as legitimate targets. On Saturday (17/8), Israel bombed a warehouse housing displaced Palestinians in the az-Zawayda area of central Gaza, killing 15 members of one family, including nine among them children.
Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said 15 of those killed in the overnight strikes were members of the al-Ejlah family, with three women among the dead. The total death toll from the strikes is 16. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said three Israeli missiles hit the warehouse, located a few kilometres south of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“A huge fire broke out, burning everything in the warehouse while children were badly injured. Rescue efforts are still ongoing to find more bodies. There is a deep sense of frustration and grief. Bodies are now lined up in the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital while families prepare to bury them,” he said, as reported by Al Jazeera, Sunday (18/8).
The attack killed the head of the family, Sami, along with his wife, mother and all of his children, according to Abdalhadi al-Ejlah, a cousin of the victims. Al-Ejlah told Al Jazeera from Stockholm, Sweden, that Sami was a the figure who dear and running a small business in the frozen meat industry and active in charity work.
According to him, they not involved in politics. He added that the family had left Gaza City for the az-Zawayda warehouse, which Sami owned and used for his business.
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“We are talking [tentang] gradual genocide, slow moving genocide, not only by killing, but also using other means, including food shortages,” al-Ejlah said..
The attack came after international mediators the United States (AS)Qatar and Egypt concluded ceasefire negotiations in Doha on Friday (17/8) which they described as serious and constructive. The talks are aimed at ending the war and seeing the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
“What have they done to deserve this attack?” say Ahmed Abu al-Ghoul, a local resident who witnessed the latest Israeli attack.
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Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum reported that Israel had launched more air strikes mainly on residential homes in the enclave, with one of them killing at least seven Palestinians from the same family on the western side of the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“We observed that the latest Israeli attacks have wiped out entire families,” he said.
Israel issued another round of evacuation orders on Saturday, this time for neighborhoods in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee made the announcement in a social media post, listing blocks in Maghazi, as well as several other neighborhoods in central Gaza, where residents should evacuate.
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He said the Palestinian group Hamas had fired rockets from the area and the Israeli military would respond strongly. “For your own safety, move to the humanitarian zone immediately,” Adraee said.
It is the third time Israel has ordered more Gaza neighborhoods to be evacuated in as many days, displacing tens of thousands of people. Abu Azzoum said many families fled to Deir el-Balah, an area already filled with displaced families.
“The humanitarian zone is getting narrower,” he added.
Israeli forces also ordered people to leave the vicinity of Beit Hanoon, a town in northern Gaza. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel on Saturday to continue diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.
A day earlier, President Joe Biden said a deal was within sight and warned Middle East parties not to undermine negotiations. A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissing Biden’s optimism.
“To say that we are getting closer to a deal is an illusion.. We are not facing a real deal or negotiation, but rather the implementation of American dictates.,” he said.
Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday. (19/8). On Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 69 people and wounded 136 in the past 48 hours.
This brings the death toll in the enclave since October 7 to 40,074 and 92,537 others injured. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led offensive on October 7 and more than 200 were taken prisoner. (I-2)
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