Palestinian families mourn their loved ones killed in Gaza, as Israel’s military offensive continues [Getty/file photo]
Residents in northern and central Gaza were subject to another day of Israeli massacres, which killed at least 96 Palestinians on Sunday.
The Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, as well as Beit Lahia – where at least 72 people were killed – were targeted with Gaza’s media office telling the Anadolu agency that the Israeli military “knew” displaced people – mostly women and children -were sheltering inside the buildings hit by bombs.
Israeli fighter jets struck a five-storey residential building in Beit Lahia, killing at least 50 people and leaving others trapped under rubble.
Fifteen others were killed after Israeli forces shelled another house with many of the deceased belonging to the Ghabayen, Ghneim, Safi, Ayada, Abdul Ati, and Al-Taluli families, The New Arab’s Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has slammed Israel’s third military assault against northern Gaza, which has killed hundreds of civilians and displaced thousands more in the past 43. days.
The offensive has been described as an ethnic cleansing campaign under the so-called ‘General’s Plan’, which seeks to expel Palestinians from northern Gaza by threatening with violence and labelling the remaining residents as Hamas members.
Israeli strikes continued throughout Monday, with dozens more Palestinian casualties including two children among four dead after a tent housing displaced Palestinians in the so-called “safe zone” of Mawasi, close to Khan Younis, was targeted, according to Palestinian media.
The victims were said to be members of the same family, Palestinian media said.
At least seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza City, Rafah, and Jabalia, while Al Jazeera English said that four were killed in Nuseirat.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced late on Sunday that two of its soldiers were killed in battles in northern Gaza.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the soldiers were killed in the Jabalia area, with one of them being a relative of Knesset member and former army chief Gadi Eisenkot.
Israel’s ongoing massacres have prompted Pope Francis to call for an investigation into whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to extracts from his upcoming book “Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World”.
In his book, the pontiff said: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide. It should be studied carefully to determine whether (the situation) corresponds to the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
The Pope’s call for a probe marks the first time he has publicly used the term genocide – without endorsing it – in the context of Israeli military operations in Gaza which have killed 43,922 Palestinians since October 7 last year.
Pope Francis’ use of the word genocide was “welcomed” by the US-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), but its executive director said that there was “no need to prove or investigate the obvious”, as several internationally-recognised bodies and UN agencies have concluded that the ongoing violence in Gaza, is indeed genocide.
