GAZA – Several Palestinians were injured Thursday in an Israeli military airstrike targeting the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, according to an Anadolu correspondent.
“An Israeli reconnaissance missile struck the surroundings of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, resulting in injuries, including children,” said the correspondent.
Anadolu cameras captured panic and distress among dozens of Palestinians at the site of the airstrike, with bodies lying on the ground.
It remains unknown if the airstrike has resulted in fatalities.
In footage taken by Anadolu, a wounded child, visibly in pain, was being transported by ambulance to the hospital.
The child, who suffered injuries to the abdomen and hand from the airstrike, implored paramedics to administer anesthesia before commencing medical intervention.
Another child, not more than 3 years old, was observed embracing his mother, blood seeping from his nose. A medic tried to sanitize the child’s wounds sustained during the Deir al-Balah airstrike, according to his mother.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital had previously received and treated several injured Palestinians, including children, as a result of earlier Israeli attacks.
Anadolu documented Wednesday that residents of Deir al-Balah gathered for the burial of 50 victims in a mass grave adjacent to the city’s cemetery.
“We are compelled to inter our deceased in mass graves, as our existing cemeteries are no longer adequate to accommodate the substantial number of martyrs,” Deir al-Balah Mayor Diab al-Jaru told Anadolu.
Scores of people were killed and injured Friday in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian media.
The Israeli bombing of several areas in the Gaza Strip continued, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli attacks are mostly carried out in the eastern areas of Khan Younis and on the beaches of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, while Israeli warplanes targeted the central areas of the Gaza Strip, the agency said.
Israel resumed its military offensive against the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group, Hamas.
At least 17,177 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46,000 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures. -AA
