Since the predawn hours on Sunday, marked the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the occupation forces have killed 35 civilians, including women and children, across the Strip, according to Health Ministry in the enclave.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 50,277 Palestinians are confirmed dead and 114,095 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office updated its death toll about two months ago to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas must “lay down its weapons”, exile its leaders, and turn over security in Gaza to Israel in order to reach the “final stage” of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Palestine Red Crescent says it has recovered 14 bodies of health workers in Rafah, after its personnel came under heavy Israeli fire last week.
It elaborated that the bodies included the bodies of eight PRCS paramedics, the bodies of five rescue team members, and the body of one United Nations staff member, all of whom went missing and whose fate was unknown after Israeli occupation forces had directly opened gunfire at them in the neighbourhood.
It added that the bodies were located thanks to the joint efforts of its rescue teams together with a crew of OCHA, the Red Cross, and the Civil Defence, who made their way to the neighbourhood in search of the missing crew members and continued to search for other bodies.
As part of the 14 bodies, the PRCS said that eight bodies out of nine paramedics were located eight days after contact with them was lost as a result of coming under intense gunfire while in Rafah’s al-Hashashin, noting that the ninth paramedic, identified as Assad Nasasra, was still missing and might have been detained by the occupation forces.
It said that it was difficult to retrieve their bodies since they were buried in sand and some of them had started to decompose.
The eight PRCS paramedics were identified as Mustafa Khafaja, Izziddin Shaath, Saleh Mu‘amar, Rifat Radwan, Mohammad Bahlul, Ashraf Abu Libdeh, Mohammad al-Hila and Raed ash-Sharif.
Twenty Palestinians, including 10 children, were killed and several others injured since early Sunday in Israeli airstrikes across northern and southern Gaza on the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
Witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli airstrikes targeted homes, a tent shelter, and civilian vehicles in Gaza City, Jabalia in the north, and Khan Younis in the south.
Seventeen people, including eight children, were killed when Israeli strikes hit several areas, including a family’s house in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, and a tent sheltering displaced families in Qizan Raswan, south of the city, according to medical sources.
Israeli tanks and artillery also pounded the eastern areas of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis, with gunfire striking residential homes, they added.
In Gaza City, one Palestinian was killed and others were wounded when Israeli warplanes targeted three civilian vehicles in the Tuffah neighborhood, medics said.
In northern Gaza, two young girls were killed and several others injured after Israeli fighter jets bombed the Maqbel family home in the Jurn area of Jabalia, they added.
Amid relentless Israeli bombardment, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza performed Eid al-Fitr prayers over the rubble of destroyed mosques, in displacement shelters, and beside the ruins of their homes.
