Palestinians crowd while queueing for bread outside a bakery in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, Thursday. Photo by Anas Deeb/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 25 (UPI) — Israeli strikes around dawn Friday in Gaza‘s Khan Younis area killed at least 38 Palestinians, according to a Friday statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. Dozens more were wounded.
“The Israeli occupation committed several massacres against citizens by targeting them in their homes in the southeast Khan Yunis area last night and this morning. 38 martyrs and dozens of injuries arrived at hospitals, most of them children and women,” the health ministry wrote in a Facebook post.
Israeli forces also raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza as the war continues an extreme humanitarian crisis. Israel maintains that Hamas uses hospitals and tunnels beneath them.
“The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Israel’s military said Friday forces were operating in the area of the hospital and added that according to its intelligence information there are “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
The IDF said on X that it helped transfer 23 patients along with 26 escorts from the Kamal Adwan Hospital to other hospitals in Gaza. The transfer was made using five ambulances and four U.N. vehicles.
The Israeli military said Friday morning in a statement that it had “eliminated several terrorists from the air and the ground and dismantled numerous terrorist infrastructures” during the past day.
In a statement reported by state-owned Turkish media Anadolu Agency the Gaza health ministry said immediate action was needed to save Kamal Adwan hospital and that it was stormed by Israeli soldiers.
“The world stands by while the most horrific genocide and the systematic dismantling of our healthcare system occurs, with patients and medical personnel facing violence and detention,” the health ministry statement said. “We cannot comprehend how the world remains silent in the face of such atrocities.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said hundreds of patients and staff were being held trapped inside the hospital by Israeli forces.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister said Israel is conducting “ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been reported killed while tens of thousands have been displaced in northern Gaza in recent weeks.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its military attacks in Gaza.
The court ordered Israel in January to take immediate steps to end atrocities in Gaza. Both Israel and the United States claim the case is baseless.