Gaza Conflict: Israel targets refugee camps amid heavy civilian casualties

Israeli military chief predicted that the war against Hamas will rage for months as Israeli forces bombarded central Gaza on Wednesday by land, sea, and air. Palestinian officials reported scores of more casualties, including 20 in a single attack. “Magic solutions” or “shortcuts” are not available. Israel’s Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, stated that battle would endure “many months” and that his country is determined to eradicate Hamas despite increasing international pleas for a ceasefire amid a humanitarian crisis. An Israeli airstrike near the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, killed 20 Palestinians on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military did not immediately provide a statement. Attempts to contact Palestinian casualties were hampered overnight by a telecommunications blackout that affected a large portion of the enclave, but by mid-morning, the service was slowly returning. Health officials reported that seven Palestinians slain overnight had their bodies arrive at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, while doctors in the Al-Maghazi region of central Gaza reported that five Palestinians were killed in a single airstrike. Along with the fighting in the adjoining town of Juhr Ad-Deek, where they claimed Israeli tanks are stationed, residents also reported severe combat east and north of the Al-Bureij district. Three more Israeli troops were reported killed in action in Gaza on Wednesday, raising the overall number of Israeli military casualties in the territory to 166 since ground operations started on October 20. In the northern area of Khan Younis, where there has been intense combat for several days, four Israeli bulldozers and a tank were assaulted, according to the Hamas armed wing. This week, Israel stepped up its operations, especially in the centre region immediately south of the waterway that splits the short coastal strip. Although many claimed there was nowhere safe for them to go, the Israeli army ordered the civilians to evacuate the area. Video footage primarily shot on Monday and Tuesday at many hospitals in Gaza was made public by the World Health Organisation. In it, WHO emergency medical team coordinator Sean Casey said Gaza’s health capacity was 20 percent of what it was 80 days ago. Following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, the worst day in Israel’s history, in which the terrorist group killed 1,200 people and took 240 prisoners, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched an offensive that has largely destroyed Hamas-ruled Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, since October 7, Israeli attacks in the coastal Palestinian enclave have resulted in 21,110 Palestinian deaths and 55,243 injuries. In the last 24 hours alone, 195 Palestinians have been murdered and 325 injured by Israeli forces. The 2.3 million residents of the enclave have all been forced from their homes—many of them many times. The Israeli military declared that it would keep hitting what it called terror targets in Gaza, at one point hitting suspects thought to represent a threat with its fleet. (With agency inputs)