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UN’s Lazzarini says world must not “go numb” after Israeli strikes kill some 50 Palestinians in 24 hours.
Israel attacked Gaza overnight with deadly attacks on displaced people in two camps and a school, while ordering the forced evacuation of one of the last barely functioning hospitals in the enclave’s besieged north.
The military launched a wave of attacks on the so-called al-Mawasi “safe zone” in the south, setting fire to refugee tents in a drone strike that killed seven people, as well as additional attacks on a civilian car and a vehicle. that carried security personnel. killing four others.
In separate attacks, the army attacked a school housing displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing one person. He also killed four people in an area north of the camp, according to the Arab Al Jazeera and Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The raids capped a bloody 24 hours in the Strip, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera Arabic that a total of 50 people had been killed since the early hours of Sunday.
As attacks continued, the military ordered the closure and forced evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, endangering some 400 civilians, including babies in incubators.
The hospital is one of the few still functioning in the north, where thousands of people have been trapped under severe siege for almost three months.
Wafa reported on Sunday that Israeli forces had been attacking the hospital with bombs, artillery shells and sniper fire, specifically targeting the women’s, maternity and neonatology wards, killing three civilians.
Hospital director Hussam Abu Safia told Reuters news agency that the army was aiming directly at the fuel tanks, which could potentially “cause a large explosion and massive casualties of the civilians inside.”
Obeying the closure order was “almost impossible” because there were not enough ambulances to get patients out, he said.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said: “We are in a situation right now where a marked evacuation zone is not safe for displaced people, nor is the evacuation zone in al -Mawasi, neither the schools, nor the shelters. , not even hospitals.”
“We are seeing repeated attacks in these particular designated areas over the last month,” he said. “What we’re seeing now is highlighting the vulnerability of really…traumatized and displaced civilians in these areas.”
The charity Oxfam said on Sunday that Israeli authorities have only allowed 12 aid trucks into northern Gaza in the past two and a half months.
“Deliberate delays and systematic obstructions” by the army meant that only 12 of the “meager” 34 trucks allowed to enter the area had been able to distribute aid to starving Palestinians.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Sunday that there had been an “escalation” in Israel’s war against Gaza in the past 24 hours.
In a post on X, he reiterated his calls for a ceasefire and said “the world must not become callous.”
#Loop
Escalation in the last 24 hours.
More civilian deaths and injuries are reported.Attacks on schools and hospitals have been common.
The world must not become insensitive.All wars have rules.
All those rules have been broken.A ceasefire is long overdue.
TO…—Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 22, 2024
