At least 48 people were killed in three Israeli airstrikes in less than an hour on Tuesday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.
The attacks killed at least 25 people at a UN-run school in the Nuseirat neighbourhood of central Gaza, 18 people were killed in southern Khan Younis, and five people were killed in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to reports.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked 25 “terrorist targets” across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including “military buildings, terrorist infrastructure and terrorist squads.”
Publishing a summary of its operations on website X, the Israeli military said it attacked an area in northern Gaza from where three rockets were fired into Israel, adding that the aircraft also “attacked and destroyed” a Hamas “sniper operative” in northern Gaza, without specifying where.
In southern Gaza, Israel’s 162nd Division “eliminated a terrorist squad and destroyed a rocket launcher” near Rafah. In central Gaza, the 3rd and 8th Brigades said they “destroyed buildings that serve as observation posts” for Hamas.
500 doctors killed because of Israeli strikes
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in Gaza since October have killed 500 medical workers, including several specialist doctors, MAP reported.
Among the specialist doctors killed are a plastic surgeon specialising in wound care, a reconstructive surgeon, an obstetrician-gynecologist, an orthopedic surgeon, a fertility doctor and Gaza’s only liver transplant doctor.
Hassan Hamdan, a plastic surgeon who specialised in wound repair, was killed along with 12 members of his family earlier this month after retiring to help during the war.
His son, Osama Hamdan, an orthopaedic surgeon, was on duty in the emergency room of Nasser Hospital when he received the call. His wife and two sons, aged three and five, were among the dead. He said:
I was only able to collect some body parts of my kids and their mother because of how huge the explosion was.
5 UN schools destroyed in last 10 days
A total of five schools affiliated with the UN and its agencies have been hit by Israeli bombs in Gaza over the past 10 days, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
The agency wrote on X:
“Yesterday in Gaza City, an @UNRWA school sheltering families was hit. The day before, one of our schools was hit in Nuseirat. Five @UN schools have been hit in the last 10 days. 9 months in, the relentless, endless killings, destruction & despair continue.”
Yanis Varoufakis commented on the situation in Gaza:
“Leave Gaza or die. It is our territory now.” A message by an Israeli army reservist to the people of Gaza. Can there be a clearer statement of intent ethnically to cleanse the occupied territory? Didn’t think so. Time for the ICC to indict.”
Israel has been striking the Gaza Strip since the cross-border Hamas attack on October 7 2023. Since then, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed and the military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into rubble, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of starvation. It has also triggered a genocide case at the UN International Court of Justice.
