43,163 Palestinians killed in Israeli offensive since October 7: Ministry
At least 43,163 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The war, now in its second year, has wounded 101,510 people, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Some 102 Palestinians were killed and 287 injured in the past 24 hours, it added.
‘Everything in Beit Lahiya is being wiped out’
Everything is being wiped out in Beit Lahiya: shelters, schools, hospitals, houses.
The past couple of days had the most horrific air raids in residential areas. Residents in Beit Lahiya had opened their homes to all civilians fleeing from Jabalia, where the Israeli army had been focusing its military operations at the start of the siege three weeks ago. So now Israel forces are concentrating all their attack on Beit Lahiya.
Videos shared online show that no civil defence team, no ambulance have been allowed to access and rescue the wounded in Beit Lahiya, with many people trapped under the rubble.
We are talking about a siege for the past three weeks, meaning no water, no food or aid. People are now forced to drink dirty water.
‘Whoever is injured, just lies there on the ground’: Kamal Adwan doctor
We reported earlier that authorities in Beit Lahiya declared the area a disaster zone and described how Israeli attacks have left the area “without food, without water, without hospitals, without doctors”.
Dr Eid Sabbah of Beit Lahiya’s Kamal Adwan Hospital told Reuters that bodies and injured people remained trapped under rubble.
He said the destruction of hospitals and lack of medical supplies meant doctors and nurses mostly had no chance of saving people who came in with injuries from air strikes and gunfire.
“Whoever is injured, just lies there on the ground and whoever is killed can’t be transported, except by mule-drawn cart,” he said.
