IOF Massacre at Gaza Hospital Leaves Dozens Martyred, Injured
By Staff, Agencies
In a new escalation of its ongoing war on Gaza, the "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF] committed a massacre at the Gaza European Hospital on Tuesday evening, targeting the facility and its surroundings in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, with a series of intensive airstrikes.
The "Israeli" airstrikes reportedly struck multiple sections of the hospital, including the entrance to the emergency department, the courtyard between the maintenance and anthropology departments, and areas adjacent to two shelter centers: Ehsan al-Agha and Jenin.
The attack caused extensive destruction and resulted in multiple martyrs and injuries, with bodies still trapped under the rubble.
According to Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, the bodies of 28 martyrs were recovered from the area around the Gaza European Hospital, which had come under fire belts by the IOF. He added that more than 70 people were injured, many of them seriously.
Following the attack, Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, declared a state of maximum emergency, unable to cope with the influx of casualties or take on the burden of patients transferred from the now-disabled hospital.
Medical teams were forced to evacuate the wounded and patients from the Gaza European Hospital to Nasser Medical Complex, as the infrastructure of the former could no longer support medical operations.
The actual death toll is expected to be higher as rescue operations remain obstructed by continuous air raids.
In the early hours of Tuesday, IOF bombed the burn unit of Nasser Medical Hospital, claiming lives of several Palestinians, including renowned journalist Hassan Eslaih, whose powerful and unflinching photography has brought global attention to the harrowing massacres committed since the outset of the "Israeli" genocide.
Overnight, the strikes on homes in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip reportedly resulted in forty martyrs and other injuries. "Israeli" airstrikes also targeted Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis, claiming at least one life.
In response to "Israeli" media reports suggesting that a Palestinian Resistance leader was present at the hospital site, a senior figure in the Resistance affirmed that such claims were untrue.
“Loser Netanyahu is trying to please the Zionist right by claiming that he is achieving success in Gaza,” the senior figure indicated.
Gaza’s Civil Defense confirmed that its teams remain unable to access the site of the massacre due to heavy and continuous "Israeli" shelling. Attempts to retrieve the remaining bodies scattered around the Gaza European Hospital have been thwarted by the IOF deliberate targeting of rescuers.
In a statement, the Civil Defense condemned the attack on its personnel as they attempted to evacuate civilians from a bombed residential building near the customs checkpoint in eastern Khan Younis.
The same building was bombed again by the IOF while the rescue operation was underway, injuring two crew members and forcing the team to retreat without being able to save trapped civilians.
Simultaneously, "Israeli" strikes continued across other parts of Khan Younis. Two civilians were martyred and others injured in an "Israeli" airstrike on a tent near the Asdaa Gate, west of the city. Another round of airstrikes hit Aabasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.
Elsewhere, Civil Defense teams reported recovering 10 martyrs and 16 injured civilians from the Afghan family home, targeted by "Israeli" warplanes near the customs checkpoint in eastern Khan Yunis.
In Gaza City, "Israeli" shelling was concentrated on eastern neighborhoods, including al-Shujaiya, al-Zaytun, al-Tuffah, and the area near al-Shawa Square, resulting in additional martyrs and widespread destruction.
