GAZA – Israel Air Force pilots battered northern Gaza Saturday, racking up another 100 deaths, according to the Palestinian Health Authority.
Israeli fighter jets swarmed over a residential building in the Tel al-Zaatar area on Saturday night.
According to local sources, quoted by WAFA, the building owned by the al-Araj jamily was housing displaced families. The pilots zeroed in on the dwelling killing at least 40 people, including children and women. The death toll is likely considerably higher as there are believed to be many bodies buried in the rubble.
Medical sources confirmed that over 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza since the early hours of Saturday, WAFA reported. The same sources indicated that dozens of victims remained trapped under the rubble of homes bombarded by Israeli forces in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya, north Gaza, over the past two days.
Additionally, Israeli pilots, according to WAFA, blew up several residential buildings and homes in Beit Lahiya. Earlier, three Palestinians were killed, and others injured, when Israelis piloting warplanes bombed a house belonging to the al-Batran family near the Italian Complex west of Gaza City.
In another airstrike, six Palestinians were killed and others injured when Israeli pilots targeted a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Another twelve Palestinians were killed, and others injured, when Israeli forces bombed a group of civilians waiting in line for flour in the Qizan al-Najjar area south of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
The ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 44,363 documented Palestinian deaths, with over 105,070 others injured.
Thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israeli attacks.
Meantime an outbreak of hostilities in Syria, with opposition rebels taking over the country’s second largest city Aleppo, resulting in the deaths of dozenss of soldiers in the Syrian army, has been blamed on Israel and the United States. The claim was made Friday by Syria, Russia and Iran.
The United States was quick to distance itself from the attack. “The United States has nothing to do with this offensive, which is led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a designated terrorist organization. The United States, together with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with UNSCR 2254,” a White House statement said.”
“We will also continue to fully defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria,” the statement said.
