War between Israel and Hamas: IDF shells Gaza Strip, dozens killed

At least 239 Palestinians have been killed since Thursday, the health ministry of Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, said on Friday. On Friday, the Israeli army again shelled the center and south of the Palestinian enclave, where it said dozens of Palestinians were killed. “terrorists”.

An AFP journalist heard heavy artillery fire between Rafah, on the southern tip of the Palestinian territory, and Khan Younes, a major southern city that is the epicenter of the fighting, overnight Thursday into Friday, but there were fewer strikes. According to the Hamas Health Ministry, “more than 59 dead and dozens of wounded were taken to hospitals as a result of the attacks carried out” overnight “in several sectors.”

“Dozens of terrorists” were killed in Khan Younes and Magazi, the center, “including officers of the Nukhba unit” (“elite” in English), said the Israeli army, which also reported a drone strike on Bureij, in the center. According to the army, “an officer of the Nukhba unit who participated in the October 7 massacre” was killed in Khan Younes.

At Najer Hospital in Rafah, a young man who did not give his name shows AFPTV bodies covered in plastic wrap. “Women are widows, children are orphans. Does anyone care about us? Why is everyone silent? “, he is asking.

The deadliest conflict of the 21st century

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on the Jewish state to spare Gaza civilians. But according to a new report released this Friday by the Hamas Health Ministry, 23,708 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, have died in the Gaza Strip since October 7, with 239 victims more than on Thursday. Since then, 60,005 people have been injured. According to him, the figure is far from exhaustive, since “many people are still under the rubble and rescuers cannot reach them.”

With an average daily death toll of 250, he calculates that the average lethality rate in this war is “significantly higher” than in “any other recent conflict,” “in Syria (96.5 deaths per day), in Sudan (51.6 )”, Iraq (50.8), Ukraine (43.9), Afghanistan (23.8) and Yemen (15.8),” condemns Oxfam-France.

The NGO’s press release noted that the already catastrophic humanitarian situation of the 2.4 million inhabitants is further aggravated by falling temperatures.