By Elham Asaad Buaras
London (The Muslim News): Israeli airstrikes continue to wreak devastation in Gaza and beyond, with mounting casualties and widespread destruction. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 119 Palestinians had been killed and 209 others injured over 72 hours [19 to 21 Sep], bringing the total death toll since last October to 41,391, with 95,760 others injured. Rescue teams are facing significant challenges, as many remain trapped under rubble and are inaccessible to rescuers. Meanwhile in Beirut during the same period, 37 people were killed and many others injured by Israeli bombings.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a warehouse killed four Palestinians and injured six others. Additionally, five employees of Gaza’s Health Ministry lost their lives when Israeli warplanes targeted the ministry’s storage facilities in the same area. Ambulances struggled to reach the scene, and international organisations have been called upon to intervene and assist those still trapped.
Tragedy struck again when an Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, killing 22 Palestinians, including 13 children. Among the victims were six women and an unborn child. According to Gaza’s government media office, these individuals, who had already suffered the loss of loved ones in earlier strikes, were at the school to receive orphan sponsorship funds when they were killed. Thirty others, including nine children, were injured. The school was one of 181 centres for displaced individuals targeted since the start of the conflict. The Israeli army claimed the school was being used by Hamas as a “command and control centre.”
Further attacks were reported in central Gaza, where a missile strike killed four civilians near the Al-Najjar family home in Al-Nuseirat camp. Airstrikes also targeted civilian homes in Rafah’s Al-Janina neighbourhood, causing more deaths and injuries.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the death toll from an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb has risen to 37, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The victims include seven women, three children, and three Syrian nationals. The raid, part of Israel’s escalating conflict with Hezbollah, also left many bodies unidentifiable due to the severity of the damage.
Health Minister Firas Al-Abiad condemned the strike as a war crime, stating: “Lebanon is witnessing a war crime, as was evident in the Israeli raid on the southern suburb.” He confirmed that among the victims were “seven women, three children aged four, six, and ten, and three Syrian nationals.” He also noted that identifying many of the victims had been difficult due to the presence of “a significant number of unidentified body parts at the scene.” Al-Abiad further commented on the ongoing crisis: “The war on Lebanon continues, and we are preparing to confront its repercussions.”
This latest airstrike in Beirut comes as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared that the conflict with Hezbollah has entered “a new phase.” The Israeli military confirmed that it had assassinated Hezbollah’s top military commander, Ibrahim Aqil, along with senior commanders from the Radwan Force, marking the third attack on the Southern Suburb in the past year.
[Photo: Rescue efforts continue after Israeli army attacked Al-Falah School where Palestinians take shelter in, killing many incl children at Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza on 21 09, 2024.Photojournalist: Dawoud Abo Alkas/ AA]
