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SvennoJ on 18 February 2024
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Hospital reports more Palestinians killed, including children, in strikes on central Gaza city


People search for victims in the rubble of the Baraka family home in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, after an Israeli airstrike on February 18.

At least 18 people have died following an Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday, according to a spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the victims. Dozens of others were injured, the spokesperson and another doctor at the hospital said. Most of those killed and wounded were children, the two health officials added. They fear the death toll could rise, as many are still missing, believed to be under the rubble.

A video obtained by CNN shows several people in the neighborhood digging under rubble with their bare hands, looking for survivors. Another video from Al-Aqsa hospital shows the bodies of small children shrouded in blankets as they were carried into the facility on stretchers with other victims.

According to witnesses, the strike directly hit a family home and damaged surrounding buildings. Neighbors and other witnesses told CNN the family had been sheltering about 40 displaced relatives who fled Rafah in the south over the past 48 hours.

"They came to Deir al-Balah from Rafah looking for safety. We don't see safety in a mosque, or in a (UN relief agency) school, or in a hospital — the word 'safety' is not something that exists anymore. They evacuated us from place to another place claiming it's safe. There is nowhere safe," Ibrahim, a neighbor, told CNN on Sunday. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the alleged airstrike Sunday. On Saturday, the military said it was targeting a series of Hamas "operational command and control centers" in central Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Saturday there is "a lot of space" north of Rafah for people to flee if Israel proceeds with anticipated military operations against Hamas there. Roughly 1.5 million Palestinians are seeking shelter in the southern Gaza city near the border with Egypt — many already displaced from elsewhere in the enclave.

Some have fled to Deir al-Balah amid news of the coming offensive, United Nations officials said last week. But Sunday's reported strikes followed a series of strikes in the city on Saturday that killed at least 68 people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Israeli forces shooting Palestinians in Gaza waiting for aid

Today there were more distressing images of people in north waiting for humanitarian trucks to be allowed in, while coming under fire from Israeli forces, forcing them to run and take cover from Israeli snipers.

And this has absolutely been repeated within the past few days as these people are in a clear, desperate need for food. The absence of humanitarian trucks … has forced people to find alternatives to food – including animal feed, while suffering from widespread diseases.

On the ground, Israel is intensifying its bombardment of Gaza, and imposing more restrictions on aid delivery to the most affected parts of the Gaza Strip.


A girl walks through rubble in an area that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 7

Fighting needs to stop, so aid can be delivered: UNRWA chief

The agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini says the “enormous” scale of humanitarian assistance needed in Gaza cannot be provided “without a sustained stop to the fighting and bombardment”.

“It is not too late to change this story if urgent actions are taken to achieve a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, and to allow a sufficient flow of aid into Gaza,” he wrote in the US news outlet USA Today. “The speed of the deterioration in Gaza is unprecedented in recent history,” he added.