Israel Bombs The Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza

On Tuesday night local time, social networks posted images of the Israeli bombing of Al-Muammarin Hospital in Gaza. So far there are no official figures on the number of victims. However, it is estimated that there are up to 300 dead and 220 injured.

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“Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike against the hospital, where thousands of displaced people sought refuge after their homes were destroyed in the ongoing Israeli shelling,” WAFA agency reported.

“A video footage showed an ambulance transporting martyrs and the injured, while fire broke out as a result of the shelling,” it added.

Previously, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that it had “grave fears about the toll on civilians in the coming days given that there are thousands of people killed, over one million displaced in just ten days, and large areas in the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble.

The OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing that the death toll included at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical workers, and 14 UN staff. Latest reports indicate that around 199 Israelis were held hostages by Palestinian armed groups.

The OHCHR also urged the Israeli forces to avoid targeting civilians and civilian objects or conducting area bombardments, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and to take precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.

Shamdasani echoed the UN call for a humanitarian pause to enable aid delivery and prevent further suffering and deaths of the already much beleaguered civilian population of Gaza.

Abeer Etefa, World Food Programme (WFP) regional communications lead for the Middle East and North Africa, told the briefing from Cairo that the current stocks of food commodities in Gaza were sufficient for only two weeks, food shops had reserves for approximately five days, and there were difficulties with replenishing those shops from warehouses.

Only one mill was currently working in the Gaza Strip, and people were lining up for hours to get bread, with only five bakeries currently operational, she said, adding that some 25 percent of the stocks in the shops or warehouses were believed to be lost, left behind or spoiled because of the lack of electricity.

The WFP was hoping to provide lifesaving food supplies to 800,000 people both in Gaza and the West Bank, and US$74 million were urgently needed to continue the operation for the next three months.

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