Hospitals have received around 350 bodies since Israel's offensive on Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in the north of Gaza began on Oct. 6, according to Dr. Mounir al-Boursh, the director-general of Gaza's Health Ministry.
He told the Associated Press that more than half of the dead were women and children, and that many bodies remain in the streets and under the rubble, with rescue teams unable to reach them because of Israeli strikes.
“Entire families have disappeared,” he said.
Israel has been carrying out a major operation for more than a week in Jabaliya refugee camp that dates back to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians surrounding Israel's creation. Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to Jabaliya and other areas claiming that Hamas militants had regrouped.
An Israeli attack on tents of displaced Palestinians and patients near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah on Monday triggered severe criticism as several patients were burnt to death after their tents caught fire from the attack.
The image of a 19-year-old student named Sha’ban al-Dalou being burnt to death went viral on social media triggering widespread criticism against Israel.
According to media reports, Sha’ban al-Dalou was getting treated at the hospital after being injured in another Israeli strike on a mosque that killed 20 Palestinians a week earlier.
Israel has so far killed at least 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7 2023. This includes at least 17,000 children and more than 11,400 women. Israel has also killed nearly 1,000 health workers, 174 journalists and 220 UN workers since the beginning of its recent war on Gaza.