Gaza: 112 Palestinians killed, 157 injured by Israeli bombing 15-16 Feb
Gaza City, (Wafa, Al Jazeera, OCHA): Between the afternoon of 15 February and 11:00 on 16 February, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 112 Palestinians were killed, and 157 Palestinians were injured. At least 28,775 Palestinians were killed, including 12,000 children, and 68,552 injured by Israeli indiscriminate bombing in Gaza since 7 October.
Intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Intensified airstrikes on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population are crammed into less than 20 per cent of the Gaza Strip, and statements by Israeli officials about a ground operation in Gaza have reportedly led to the movement of people out of Gaza’s southernmost governorate toward Deir al Balah.
On 14 February, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emphasized that international humanitarian law “protects all civilians from the effects of hostilities, including those who may not be able to depart Rafah,” and added: “Israel, as the occupying power, must ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population are met. In addition, it is necessary … that the trickle of aid being let into Gaza becomes a steady, robust stream: food, drinkable water, hygiene items, medicines, and materials to do basic sanitation and allow for adequate shelter.”
As of 16 February, the Israeli forces’ operation in the the Nasser Hospital complex in Khan Younis continues. The Israeli military alleged that Hamas was holding hostages or withholding the bodies of Israelis within the compound, and subsequently reported that its forces arrested twenty of the suspects from the 7 October attacks in Israel.
Israel’s incursion into Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital has led to the deaths of at least five patients after electricity was severed and oxygen supplies cut.
On 15 February, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that hundreds of patients and staff had been relocated to a building within the hospital compound, where they lacked food, water, and baby formula, and that the hospital generators had stopped functioning, putting the lives of six patients on ventilators in the intensive care unit (ICU), and three premature babies, at risk.
In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, Israeli occupation forces compelled the administration of Nasser Medical Complex to relocate 95 healthcare workers, 11 of their family members, 191 patients, and 165 accompanying individuals to the old Nasser Building under harsh and frightening conditions, lacking food and infant formula, and facing a severe shortage of water.
The complex is reportedly experiencing a critical situation due to the shortage of medical resources, and fuel is expected to run out within the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of patients, including six under artificial respiratory support in the intensive care unit and three infants in the nursery. The emergency department and surgical wards are operating without adequate medical care for the 20 patients.
On the morning of 16 February, the Ministry of Health reported that five ICU patients had died due to the depletion of oxygen.
On 15 February, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that the hospital had been shelled, killing and wounding an undetermined number of people, and that one of its staff was unaccounted for.
On 15 February, Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, expressing his concern about developments at the hospital, stated the “wounded and sick, as well as medical personnel and facilities must be protected. All feasible precautions must be taken to spare patients, staff and civilians sheltering in the hospital. Hospitals must be places of greater safety, not of war.”
At least 11 Palestinians were reported killed last night as a result of the continuing Israeli airstrikes on various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to local and medical sources.
In Rafah, south of the Strip, at least 11 civilians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nassr neighborhood east of the city.
Local sources confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces targeted two homes belonging to the Zaarab and Joudeh famililies, resulting in the killing of 11 Palestinians and multiple injuries.
Earlier in the night, at least two people were killed and others injured in Israeli attacks on the homes of the Sabbah and Afana families in the Al-Sikka Street area, east of Jabalia in northern Gaza.
Local sources reported that civil defense and ambulance teams retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians and several wounded individuals from the rubble of the two houses. The teams are continuing search and rescue efforts to locate potential survivors.
Israeli warplanes also targeted the Tel Al-Zaatar area in the northern Gaza Strip, coinciding with artillery shelling by Israeli occupation forces in the village of Maghraqa, in central Gaza, and around the vicinity of the University College south of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.
According to Israeli authorities, 1,139 Israelis were killed by Hamas in south Israel on October 7. Israel says 134 Israelis and foreign nationals are still held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the head of Lebanon’s Hizbullah says Israel’s “aggression” that has killed several civilians in southern Lebanon was intentional.
Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech that his group’s response to Israel’s attacks would be an “increase in resistance”.
“The enemy could have avoided killing civilians in southern Lebanon,” Nasrallah said.
Five children were among 10 civilians killed in the Israeli attacks on Wednesday, the deadliest day for Lebanese civilians in four months of hostilities across the Lebanon-Israel border.
“The enemy will pay with blood” for every woman and child killed by cross-border fire, Nasrallah warned.
Hizbullah’s “precision-guided missiles can reach … Eilat”, a resort town on Israel’s Red Sea coast, he added.
[Photo: Palestinian children fill up bottles with water as accessing clean water gets harder due to ongoing Israeli blockade in Rafah, Gaza on 16 2 24. Photojournalist: Abed Zagout /AA]
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