London, (The Muslim News) : According to the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA 123 Palestinians were killed by Israeli indiscriminate bombings in Gaza between Tuesday and Wednesday in Gaza taking the total number of Palestinians killed since 7 October to 27,708 and injuring 67,147. More than 8,000 people were reported missing. Last figures received for children killed, is 11,500  and women killed is 8,000.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that a paramedic was killed and two others were injured after Israeli forces opened fire directly at them in an area between Ahli Arab Hospital and al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City while on their way to evacuate the injured, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli air attacks on two homes killed at least 14 Palestinians and injured many more in the Tal as-Sultan and Saudi neighbourhoods of Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday night, reported Wafa.

Additionally, two Palestinians were killed and 10 were injured in an Israeli air raid on a home in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is now sheltering in Rafah, where the original population was 250,000, according to a statement by UN humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths on Wednesday.

Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered attack on Rafah – a city sheltering more than 1.2 million people – after shunning a Hamas plan for a truce agreement, reprted Al Jazeera.

Fears of famine intensify for more than 300,000 civilians surrounded and trapped by Israeli forces in northern Gaza.

In the eastern part of the city, close to the Egypt-Gaza border, many people have been killed and more residential homes have been destroyed.

In central areas, there is a similar situation, with more than 10 people killed in designated “safe areas”.

At least 13 Palestinians who were fetching water for their families have been killed by Israeli air strikes in the al-Thalatheni and al-Maghribi residential neighbourhoods of Gaza City.

The bodies of those killed and injured were taken to Gaza City’s Ahli Arab Hospital.

Accrding to Wafa news agency, Israeli warplanes bombed homes in various neighborhoods of Gaza City, specifically in the neighborhoods of Al-Rimal, Al-Sabra, and Al-Zaytoun, killing dozens as others sustained various injuries.

The Israeli artillery also fired shells at Al-Rimal and Al-Sabra neighborhoods in Gaza City.

A number of Palestinians were killed, and others were injured, after being targeted by Israeli drones in the alleys and streets of the western region of Gaza City, specifically in the university square, the industrial, aviation, and Saraya intersection. Sources said that some of them are still lying in the place where the army prevents ambulances from reaching them to transport them to Hospitals.

Explosions and gunfire were also heard in Al-Sabra, Al-Rimal, and Tal Al-Hawa neighborhoods in Gaza City, resulting from the occupation army targeting a number of homes in the vicinity of the place.

The bodies of 14 slain Palestinians, including 5 children, and dozens of injuries were recovered after the Israeli warplanes bombed two homes owned by Fahjan and Al-Mughir families in Tal Al-Sultan and Al-Saudi neighborhoods, west of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

Nafez Abdel Jawad, a journalist working for Palestine TV, and his son were killed in an Israeli missile strike that targeted a house in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The  Israeli warplanes bombed various neighborhoods of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli artillery fired dozens of rocket shells at the eastern areas of the city.

Israeli warplanes also targeted the border area south of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli artillery fired dozens of rocket shells at the eastern areas of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says his country sent $26m to the UN agency, UNRWA.

More than a dozen countries suspended funds for the UNRWA, a crucial provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s employees of participating in the October 7 attacks.

“People in Gaza are starving. Health services have collapsed. In addition to all of the ramifications of the war, many are dying from infectious diseases and a lack of healthcare. Our support for UNRWA’s efforts is more important than ever,” Norway’s Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim said in a statement.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced his extreme concern over Israel’s potential military assault on Rafah in southern Gaza.

He warned that strikes on the area would worsen what is already a humanitarian nightmare in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from Israeli bombs.

According to Israeli authorities, 1,139 Israelis were killed by Hamas in southern Israel on 7 October. 224 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since 31 October. 136 Israelis and foreign nationals are bieng held captive by Hams in Gaza.

[Photo: Palestinian child, injured by bombing by Israel in Rafah, Gaza on 8 2 24 being treated in a hospital. Photojournalist: Belal Khaled /AA]