Israel attacks Palestinians fleeing to southern Gaza
Over 2,300, including more than 700 children, have been martyred while thousands wounded in Palestine
October 15, 2023
Thousands of Palestinians have fled to southern Gaza after Israel warned them to evacuate before a planned ground offensive against Hamas. However, those who fled to Khan Younis found no reprieve from Israel's bombardment.
As civilians moved towards southern Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck a four-storey building, killing and wounding several people. Dozens of Palestinians rushed to rescue trapped people.
More than 2,300, including more than 700 children, have been martyred while 9,042 wounded in Palestine since the conflict’s escalation, Reuters reported citing Palestinian health ministry sources.
“There are thousands of people and thousands more are still coming after Israel’s order to evacuate to southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and Rafah.
The two governorates are packed with people beyond capacity”, Al Jazeera's Youmna ElSayed said.
She said that Khan Younis is suffering from food and water shortages.
“We are just shut out of the whole world,” she said, adding that families there have been welcoming those who are fleeing from the north into their homes.
Additionally, while reporting from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in southern Gaza, CGTN's Noor Harazeen broke down in tears calling the scene in the region a "massacre".
She said that "the numbers (of injured) are going up by the hour" as ambulances full of injured civilians and dead bodies reached the hospital in southern Gaza — an area Israeli forces designated as a safe place for Palestinians.
While sharing an update on the number of civilians displaced in Khan Younis, ElSayed revealed: “In every apartment, there are 20 to 30 people staying together. And there are more calling relatives and friends to ask whether there is space where they are. I’m staying in an apartment with three other families."
Some 270,000 displaced people are sheltered in 102 schools run by the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, Al Jazeera reported.
No aid has so far reached the 2.3 million residents of Gaza, as medical supplies and fuel to power hospitals are running out.
