As the war expands in the Middle East to Syria, horror continues in Gaza, the place where it all began. At least 22 members of the Abu Tarabish family died in an Israeli attack early Wednesday morning when the aviation bombed the house where they were in Beit Lahia, a town in the northern region of Gaza that has been under intense Israeli military siege for 68 days, Efe reports.
At dawn on Wednesday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported 30 dead and missing under the rubble of the Abu Tarabish family's home, although health authorities have only recovered 22 bodies so far.
The lists of the deceased published after the attack include six "child martyrs," a term that also refers to teenagers.
The building where the Abu Tarabish family was located had three floors and, according to Wafa, more than thirty displaced people from the northern clashes were inside. Currently, 90% of Gaza's population, around 2.1 million people, are displaced.
The house was also in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the only two functioning hospitals in the besieged northern area along with Al Awda in Yabalia, which the Israeli army has been trying to evacuate for days with constant attacks on the center itself and its surroundings.
On Saturday, the director of Kamal Adwan, Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that two Israeli soldiers entered the hospital with a megaphone, demanding the evacuation of the center.
"Between December 3 and 7, the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, which houses 90 patients and 66 medical staff, was attacked four times with gunfire, bombs, and rockets, resulting in the death of seven people including four doctors and a child," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday.
Additionally, seven people died on December 5 in one of the attacks on the hospital's surroundings.
Beit Lahia, Yabalia, and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza began to suffer an intense Israeli bombing campaign on October 5, followed by a ground incursion on the 6th. Since then, the area has been under a military siege that has caused 3,700 deaths and disappearances, according to Gaza authorities, although this figure has not been updated for days.
Due to the fighting, the Civil Defense, responsible for rescuing the bodies and injured from the rubble of the attacks, reports being unable to carry out its crucial work to properly account for the victims.
The UN estimates that between 65,000 and 75,000 people remain in the besieged area, although the offensive periodically causes waves of evacuation to the city of Gaza, also in the north but outside the siege.
On December 4, around 5,500 people were forcibly evacuated from three schools where they were taking refuge in Beit Lahia.
The Israeli armed forces reported early in the morning the launch of two rockets towards Israeli territory from central Gaza, which landed in open spaces. Less than an hour later, two more rockets fired from the same area were intercepted before landing.
Since the war began in Gaza, almost 44,800 Palestinians have lost their lives (70% women and children), and another 106,200 have been injured, according to the Ministry of Health.