More than 50 women, children among wounded from Israel’s deadly Jabalia attack: Doctor
Dr Mohamad Salha, acting director of al-Awda Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, spoke to Al Jazeera earlier about the attack on the Jabalia refugee camp which killed at least 33, and how his facility is struggling to treat the wounded.
“We have received more than 70 injuries in our emergency department and, also, more than 30 people who were killed,” Dr Salha told Al Jazeera. “Until now, our ambulances and the ambulances of the Ministry of Health are still bringing cases to al-Awda Hospital and another hospital,” Salha said. “Actually, we cannot handle such a large number of injuries, which have arrived [at] our department. We have to deal with a huge number in one hour,” he said.
“More than 50 of the injured who arrived [at] the hospital are women and children,” he added.
“The injuries which arrived at our emergency department are really complicated injuries – burns and we have to do amputations for some cases … and our capacity at the hospital is not that much because the Israeli occupation forces destroyed 50 percent of our capacity in the hospital”.
More on Israel’s assault on Jabalia
At least 33 people have been killed and 85 wounded following Israeli strikes on several houses in Jabalia, while more people remain under the rubble, according to rescue crews.
In a separate attack, the Israeli military killed at least four people and injured 15 others in a bombardment of a house in the al-Tawbah area of Jabalia.
The Israeli military has carried out extensive military operations in Jabalia for about two weeks, with it claiming to be dismantling Hamas infrastructure in the area to stop the Palestinian group from regrouping.
Jabalia residents say Israeli tanks have reached the heart of the camp, where they are destroying dozens of houses from the air and ground daily, including placing bombs in buildings and detonating them remotely.
Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced, while around 400,000 people across northern Gaza are trapped without access to food or water.
Israel ‘looking into’ Jabalia refugee camp attack that killed 33
Israel’s military said it is “looking into” a strike by its forces that killed at least 33 people in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the AFP news agency reports.
About 80 people were also wounded in the Israeli attack – mostly women and children – which comes as a brutal Israeli military siege of the Jabalia area enters its third week, leaving an estimated 200,000 Palestinians without access to food, water or medical supplies.
Clashes, injuries as Israeli military carries out West Bank raids
The Israeli military has carried out several raids across the occupied West Bank in recent hours.
Incidents include:
- The new Askar refugee camp in Nablus has been stormed
- The Thinnabeh suburb, east of the city of Tulkarem, has been stormed
- Palestinian armed groups have targeted Israeli forces with gun fire and explosive devices in the Balata camp, near Nablus
- A Palestinian has been wounded by Israeli forces in the Qalandiya camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem
