At least 21 killed as Israeli army steps up attacks in Gaza

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 21 Palestinians were killed as the Israeli army intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to medical sources.

A medical source said five people lost their lives and several others were injured when Israeli forces shelled a group of people outside Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Eleven people were also killed in a series of strikes targeting several homes in northern Gaza, the source added.

Israeli gunboats also opened fire on the western part of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving two people dead, another medical source said.

A drone strike in Gaza City killed two more people in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of the city, the source said.

Another Palestinian was killed in drone strike in the southern city of Rafah, he added.

The attacks came as the Israeli army continued its deadly onslaught in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent Hamas from regrouping amid a suffocating siege on the area. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, was allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there on the verge of imminent famine.

More than 2,000 people have since been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 43,700 people have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 103,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar