Deaths in Gaza increase to 24,100; one dead and 17 injured in Israel after multiple car accident

101 days of the escalation of a long-standing conflict, which as the hours go by increases bloodshed, the risk of famine and levels of destruction.

This Monday, January 15, the number of people killed in the Gaza Strip rose to 24,100 and at least 60,834 have been injured due to the Israeli attacks, reported the local Ministry of Health.

The human losses are growing at a time when the Israeli Army intensifies its bombing throughout the Palestinian enclave against what it calls “targets” of the Hamas group, in the midst of what it claims is a response to the assault that left nearly 1,200 dead and more. of 240 kidnapped on October 7.

But most of the victims in Gaza are civilians, highlight the Palestinian authorities, witnesses, human rights groups and some governments, such as South Africa, which is pursuing a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where the week stood out. past that “no attack, no matter how serious,” justifies “genocide.”

132 Palestinians were killed and 252 injured in the last 24 hours alone, explained the Gazan Health Ministry, during Israeli operations that target both the north, center and south of that territory. Its inhabitants have no escape from the attacks by air, sea and land, when the humanitarian crisis deepens, before the eyes of the international community.

More than 10,000 Palestinian children have died, surpassing child casualties in all other recent global wars

Among the fatalities in the recent assaults are 12 Palestinians who were killed in an overnight airstrike by foreign troops on a home in the northern Gaza City, health officials said.

At the same time, columns of smoke rose over the main southern city, Khan Younis, bombarded by Israeli tanks.

Israeli tanks also attacked near the Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in the center of the enclave.

“More than 10,000 Palestinian children have already died, surpassing child casualties in all other recent global wars. A somber testimony to the incomparable tragedy unfolding in Gaza,” the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said in a statement.

In addition, fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters was reported in Khan Younis, the Palestinian press agency SAFA reported. The Army of the Jewish-majority country claims to have killed some 8,000 militants of the Islamist movement during the ongoing war.

With no immediate end to hostilities in sight and with the firm support of the United States, Israel promises to continue its offensive.

Gaza is experiencing a “hellish” situation: WHO warns of risk of famine and epidemics in Gaza

Although for three months the Gazan population, which has faced other wars, has faced an unprecedented level of destruction and deaths, as the magnitude of the ongoing hostilities grows, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of a “ massive humanitarian crisis.”

Palestinians in the besieged Strip “live in hell”stressed the director of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,

“There are patients who undergo amputations that could be avoided due to the destruction of the health system and those who suffer from chronic diseases die due to lack of care,” denounced the WHO director, cited by the UN daily report on the conflict.

And those who survive face the drama of tending to their wounds. Given the lack of medical supplies, such as anesthesia, Doctors have been forced to perform surgeries, including amputations, without the vital medication to prevent intense pain.

Gazans also suffer from a shortage of hospitals. Most medical centers have been the target of attacks by the Israeli Army, a situation that, added to the lack of water and energy, leaves them out of operation.

“After more than 300 attacks on the health system and the continued lack of safe access to critical aid, the majority of hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped functioning (…) The 15 facilities that are still operating can only provide one limited health care,” he highlighted

The public health researcher also referred to the consequences in Israel of the Hamas attack. “There is horrific information about gender violence,” he lamented, noting that “families are desperate for the release of their loved ones,” referring to the more than 100 people who remain kidnapped.

Famine will make an already terrible situation catastrophic

Likewise, in the report in which several UN agencies participated, the WHO warned about the risk of famine and epidemics in Gaza, whose population is left in rubble and without sanitary conditions.

“Famine will make an already dire situation catastrophic, because sick people are more likely to succumb to starvation and hungry people are more vulnerable to disease,” Tedros Adhanom added.

United Nations agencies urged a smooth entry of humanitarian aid to the overcrowded enclave, with 2.4 million inhabitants.

“Without the ability to produce or import food, the entire population of Gaza depends on aid to survive (…) Virtually all Palestinians in Gaza skip meals every day, while many adults go hungry so that children can eat,” added the report that highlighted that Gazans currently face the worst levels of food insecurity.

One woman dead and 17 injured leaves attack in Israel

Israeli authorities reported that a 79-year-old woman died and 17 other people were injured after a multiple car accident and a stabbing in the city of Ra'anana, in the center of the country and north of Tel Aviv.

Emergency services detailed that three people, including a 16-year-old boy, are in serious condition and 14 people, including six children, remain hospitalized in mild and moderate condition.

Israeli police, who are investigating the incident as a “terrorist attack,” said they captured two Palestinian men suspected of carrying out the attack.

According to the authorities, the alleged perpetrators would have carried out coordinated attacks with at least two stolen vehicles, after stabbing one of the drivers.

“A stolen vehicle ran over several citizens (…) They left together and in parallel to two different places, took two cars and launched a series of attacks,” said the police chief of the central district, Avi Biton, in Ra'anana.

The incident comes as tensions soar in the Gaza Strip.

With Reuters, EFE and local media