Israel kills 23 in Gaza, wounds 73, most of them civilians –PCHR

(Photo: Reuters/Ma’an)

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have continued into their fourth day, and reports from sources on the ground say that today’s bombings have killed three civilians.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), which holds consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, has been producing detailed dispatches on the Israeli airstrikes’ toll. Its latest dispatch reports:

Today, 3 Palestinian civilians (a child and an old man and his daughter) have been killed and 36 others, including 19 children and 7 women, have been wounded. Two members of resistance have been killed, and two others have been also wounded by a series of Israeli air strikes. Thus, the number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of this offensive has risen to 23 and the number of those wounded has risen to 73, most of them civilians.

Ma’an News is also reporting that “Israeli airstrikes killed two Islamic Jihad militants and three civilians on Monday.”

The PCHR report contains more on the impact the latest Israeli raids are having on civilians in Gaza:

At approximately 02:00 also on Monday, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a house belonging to Bahjat Mohammed Hammad near Jabalya Martyrs Elementary School in ‘Izbat ‘Abed Rabbu in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalya. The missile hit the first floor of the three-storey house, where 9 individuals, including 3 children live. As a result, the house was completely destroyed and 7 members of the family, including 3 children and 3 women, were wounded. Eighteen neighboring houses were also affected by the missile, 3 of them sustained heavy damages. Twelve members of the Abu al-‘Eish family, including 3 children and two women, and 7 members of the Sukkar family, including 5 children, were also wounded. The houses of the two families are adjacent to the targeted house. In addition, 350 windows, 7 wooden and 3 iron doors in the above school were damaged. Two windows from the Palestine Red Crescent Society premises were also destroyed…

At approximately 09:25, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a gathering of Palestinian civilians, mostly children, near al-Khuzondar fuel station in the west of the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalya. As a result, Nayef Sha’ban Nayef Qarmout, 14, was killed, and another 5 children were wounded by shrapnel.

At approximately 13:30, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at Mohammed Mustafa al-Hussoumi, 65, and his daughter Faiza, 30, when they were on their agricultural plot near Tal al-Za’tar School in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. The old man was instantly killed, and his daughter died a few minutes after her admission in Kamal ‘Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia.

The current fighting was sparked by Israel’s assassination of a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees. This round of attacks is even deadlier than what occurred in August 2011, when Israel falsely blamed a murderous attack in Eilat on Gazans, then killed five PRC members, igniting another flare-up in which at least eight Palestinian civilians died, according to Human Rights Watch.

And even though the Israeli military itself has acknowledged that what happened in Eilat was carried out by Egyptians, it has reverted to lying about who perpetrated the attack to justify this latest assault on Gaza.