On the 13th day of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, Israeli forces committed a new massacre in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City with death toll rising steadily after four more Palestinians were killed in an air strike and 12 bodies were retrieved from the battered Shejaiya district.
The air strike struck a house in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing four people.
In Shejaiya, ambulances retrieved the bodies during a brief humanitarian lull which collapsed after just 40 minutes on Sunday. The Zionist military said its forces were shot at shortly after the two-hour truce. “We had to answer back,” claimed an Israeli army source.
So far, medics say more than 60 people have been killed in a blistering Israeli offensive on the area, with more than 400 others wounded.
With the rescue operation still going in Shejaiya, it was not immediately possible to determine the exact toll although early on Sunday, the deputy health minister said it stood at 410 martyrs since the Israeli aggression began on July 8.
Among the victims were photojournalist Khalid Hamid and paramedic Fuad Jabir.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said ongoing fire was preventing the evacuation of many more, among them women and children, he said. "The vast majority of those killed and injured so far are civilians," he said.
Medical sources said seven Palestinians were killed in other areas across the coastal enclave.
Residents said the heavy shelling began in Shejaiya around midnight as Israeli tanks reached the edge of the neighborhood. “There are dead and wounded in the streets, and no one can help them,” local resident Ahmed Rabia said.
The heavy shelling has caused hundreds of panicked residents to flee to downtown Gaza City. Some have tried to find refuge with relatives, while others have headed to UN schools that have been serving as temporary shelters since the start of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip less than two weeks ago.
The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said its fighters exchanged fire with Israeli forces in Shejaiya and a nearby neighborhood.
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