– Zaina Aman
9 June 2024: In a complex daytime operation, 274 Palestinians were killed and many more injured in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camps. The operation, aimed at rescuing four captives, was reportedly assisted by the U.S. military. The Gaza government’s media office condemned the action as “barbaric and brutal aggression,” highlighting the dire conditions at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only hospital in the area, which is facing severe shortages of medications, medical supplies, and fuel.
Commander Arnon Zamora of the Counter-Terrorism Unit was killed during the operation, which successfully rescued captives Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. The Gaza media office held both Israel and the U.S. responsible for the high number of casualties and warned of a looming disaster if the hospital’s last functioning generator fails.
The statement from the hospital’s media office described the chaotic scene, with bodies and wounded individuals lying in the streets and homes, unreachable by ambulances due to ongoing bombing. Since October 7, at least 36,801 Palestinians have been killed and 83,680 wounded in Gaza.
A paramedic from Nuseirat, Ziad, described the attack as a “real massacre,” noting that Israeli drones and warplanes fired indiscriminately. Residents reported many bodies lying in the streets near the market district. Gaza’s Government Media Office confirmed that 274 were dead and more than 400 wounded in the Nuseirat attack, which followed intensified Israeli attacks on the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the operation, which freed four captives from Hamas, “will be written in history.” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described conditions at Al-Aqsa Hospital as a “nightmare,” with hospitals overwhelmed by the severely injured, many of whom are women and children.
