Israeli attacks kill 40 across Gaza as military escalates Gaza City assault

‘systematic destruction of Gaza City is already under way’: UN

Monitoring Desk

GAZA:   Israel’s military has intensified its attacks on Gaza City with air strikes on heavily populated areas, as it pushes ahead with the initial stage of an operation to seize the enclave’s main urban centre that could forcibly displace close to one million Palestinians.

Among the victims of the Israeli assault on Gaza City on Thursday were six people, including four children, killed in the southern Sabra neighbourhood, a source at the nearby al-Ahli Hospital told Al an Arab TV channel.

Footage from the scene of one of the attacks east of Sheikh Radwan showed the bodies of the dead and badly wounded strewn across the street amid flames and wreckage from the attack.

The victims in Gaza City were among at least 40 Palestinians killed across the territory since dawn, hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera, eight of whom were reportedly seeking aid.

Among the other victims were five Palestinians killed by an Israeli drone strike northwest of Khan Younis, and at least three killed by Israeli forces near an aid centre north of Rafah. In the north of the enclave, four people were killed and 10 injured in Israeli shelling of Jabalia al-Balad, emergency sources told Al Jazeera, while in central Gaza, five people, including two children, were killed while waiting for aid near the so-called Netzarim axis.

In Gaza City, where Israeli troops are posted on the outskirts, thousands of Palestinians continued to flee their homes in a bid to escape the escalating offensive, amid heavy shelling of densely populated neighbourhoods like Sabra and Tuffah.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has escalated attacks across Gaza City, reportedly deciding to press ahead with plans to take full control which will only lead to further “mass killings of civilians” and displacement, UN human rights officials warned.

Recent attacks have been particularly devastating in the Az Zaytoun neighbourhood, where airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire are continuous and intense, causing a high number of civilian casualties and the large-scale destruction of residential buildings and public facilities, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,  said in a statement.

Since 8 August, the office has recorded 54 attacks on residential buildings and entire blocks in Gaza City, killing 87 Palestinians, including at least 25 children and entire families.

It also recorded attacks on shelters for internally displaced people, including tents and schools, killing at least 14.

These casualty figures “indicate that the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already underway,” the statement said.

However, OHCHR stressed that these devastating figures are only a portion of the actual toll due to underreporting in such dire circumstances.

As a result of recent attacks, hundreds of families have been forced to flee, with nowhere safe to go amid dire humanitarian conditions across the Gaza Strip.

However, those who remain trapped are completely cut off from food, water and medical supplies.

OHCHR emphasized that “Israel’s reported decision to take full control of Gaza City and to forcibly displace its population will lead to mass killings of civilians and destruction of infrastructure vital to the survival of the population.”

The office is seeing the Israeli military repeat means of warfare that caused mass killings, serious injuries, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, starvation and extensive destruction in previous operations in North Gaza and Rafah.