64% of Gaza strike victims children, women

Two-thirds of the people Israel killed in the latest Gaza strikes were women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The statistics provided by the ministry show that at least 436 people were killed including at least 183 children, 94 women, 34 elderly people, and 125 men. At least, 678 others were injured, […]

Two-thirds of the people Israel killed in the latest Gaza strikes were women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The statistics provided by the ministry show that at least 436 people were killed including at least 183 children, 94 women, 34 elderly people, and 125 men.

At least, 678 others were injured, many critically, with more still trapped under the rubble.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israeli forces killed at least 436 people in 100 simultaneous strikes across the Gaza Strip, shattering the fragile two-month-old ceasefire with Hamas.

According to Al Jazeera, the attacks targeted various areas across the Gaza Strip, from north to south, including Jabalia, Beit Hanoon, Gaza City, Nuseirat, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah. Areas that had been designated as safe humanitarian zones, including the al-Mawasi area, were also attacked.

It said two schools sheltering displaced families, al-Tabin School in Daraj, Gaza City, and Dar al-Fadhila School northwest of Rafah City, were bombed. At least 25 people were killed.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the renewed bombing of Gaza was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieved all of its war aims – destroying Hamas and freeing all the captives.

On Wednesday, at least 27 Palestinians were killed as Israeli attacks on Gaza continued for a second day

The deadly Israeli attacks early on Wednesday targeted Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza, as well as Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood in the north. Tents housing forcibly displaced people were also hit, killing a mother and a child.

Elsewhere in central Gaza, Palestinians reported an attack on a home near a mosque in Deir el-Balah area, while Israeli helicopter fire and artillery shelling were reported east of the Bureij refugee camp on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that an international aid worker was killed and five others were wounded in an Israeli attack on central Gaza.

These recent attacks have attracted widespread condemnation, including from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who said he was “outraged by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza”.

China’s European envoy Fu Cong regretted the “harm done to the hard-won ceasefire”. Several lawmakers in the United States also condemned the Israeli attacks, with Senator Bernie Sanders calling for an end to US military aid to Israel.

The Ministry of Health reports that at least 49,547 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and 112,719 wounded in Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. This means one in every 50 people in Gaza has been killed, and one in every 20 has been wounded.

On February 3, the Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, noting that thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble were presumed dead.

Families wiped out

Entire families have been wiped out again. Among them was the family of Ramy Abdu’s sister Nesreen whose home was bombed in Gaza City at about 4:30am (2:30 GMT).

Abdu is the chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Nesreen, her children Ubaida, Omer, and Layan, as well as Ubaida’s wife, Malak and their young children, Siwar and Mohammed, were all killed.

In a tweet, Abdu said: “Israel killed my sister and her children tonight, along with her entire family. Israel may kill us at will, burn us alive, and tear us apart, but it will never succeed in uprooting us from our land. Justice and accountability await—no matter how long it takes.”

According to figures provided by Al Jazeera, Israel’s attacks on Gaza had wiped out 902 entire families, erasing them from the civil registry, as of October 2024. This means every single one of their members was killed.

Additionally, at least 1,364 Palestinian families were left with only one surviving member, while 3,472 Palestinian families were reduced to just two surviving members.

Protests in Israel

Thousands of protesters massed in Jerusalem on Wednesday, chanting slogans against Netanyahu who they accuse of undermining democracy and resuming Gaza strikes without regard for hostages.

Israel’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid had called on the public to rally against Netanyahu’s government, accusing it of having “no red lines” after resuming the war in Gaza.

The entire nation must “come together and say: ‘Enough!’” wrote Lapid on Wednesday in a post on X. “I’m calling on all of you – this is our moment, this is our future, this is our country. Take to the streets!” he added.

Thousands of Israelis packed a Tel Aviv square on Tuesday evening to demand the government resume negotiations for a captive deal.

The main group representing the families of the captives held in Gaza accused the government of “deliberately dismantling” the ceasefire.

“Today Netanyahu did not open the gates of hell on Hamas. He opened the gates of hell on our loved ones,” said Einav Zangauker, whose son is among the captives.

“We hope all people from Israel will join this movement and we will not stop until we restore democracy and freedom for the hostages,” said Zeev Berar, 68, from Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

“At this rate, we won’t have a country left, not a democratic one. It will be a dictatorship,” student Roni Sharon, 18, told AFP.

Of the 251 hostages seized during the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.