By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - UNICEF on Monday decried recent Israeli attack on tents housing displaced people in the Gaza Strip.
"Today, our screens were once again filled with horrifying reports of children killed, burned, and families emerging from bombed tents in Gaza. These should shock the world to its core," UNICEF said on X.
At least four people were killed and 40 others injured when Israeli warplanes hit a courtyard at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, burning dozens of tents as displaced Palestinians slept.
Medical teams evacuated several injured individuals, including women and children, whose clothes were set ablaze by the explosion.
"Attacks on shelters in Deir al-Balah and at al-Aqsa hospital, which reportedly killed 15 children, prove again that there is no safe place in Gaza,” said UNICEF, adding: "This shameful violence against children must end now.”
During its offensive in Gaza, Israel has launched numerous attacks on hospitals, schools, and houses of worship – civilian sites normally off limits under the laws of war, raising the specter of war crimes.
Israel has waged a sweeping offensive on Gaza following a Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. In the year since, Israeli attacks have killed over 42,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, and injured over 98,000, according to Gaza health authorities.
Nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on the entry of international assistance, leading to acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.