ISRAELI forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza overnight on Wednesday and into Thursday, killing dozens of people.
The Israeli air and ground offensive against Hamas has widened to most of the territory and forced thousands more to flee from homes and shelters.
First Minister Humza Yousaf (below), writing on Twitter/X, called the expansion of Israel’s ground offensive an “indiscriminate massacre”.
Responding to a chilling account of the crisis in Gaza by Gemma Connell, a representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Yousaf said: “Listen to Gemma Connell from UNOCHA in Gaza. We are witnessing an indiscriminate massacre happening in front of our very eyes.
“I urge the ICC [International Criminal Court] to investigate every potential breach of international law and hold those responsible to account.
“These scenes should shame us all.”
Listen to Gemma Connell from @UNOCHA in Gaza. We are witnessing an indiscriminate massacre happening in front of our very eyes. I urge the ICC to investigate every potential breach of international law and hold those responsible to account. These scenes should shame us all. pic.twitter.com/KhvK2ttY7n
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) December 26, 2023
The war has already killed more than 21,100 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry – most of them women and children – and driven around 85% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes.
This makes Israel’s offensive in Gaza one of the deadliest military campaigns in recent history.
Much of northern Gaza has been levelled, largely depopulated and isolated from the rest of the territory for weeks.
Israel vowed to dismantle Hamas and bring back more than 100 hostages still held by the militants after their October 7 attack on southern Israel, in which some 1200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel brushed off international calls for a ceasefire, saying it would amount to a victory for Hamas.
Just days before Christmas, the UN Security Council voted for a resolution that called for more aid to Gaza, but which fell short of calling for a ceasefire.
The UK voted for the resolution, while the United States and Russia abstained.
Aid workers say the amount of food, fuel and medical supplies entering is still far below what is needed, and one in four Palestinians in Gaza are starving, according to UN officials.
An Israeli air strike on a home in the northern town of Beit Lahiyeh – one of the first targets of the ground invasion that began in October – buried at least 21 people, including women and children, according to a family member.
Bassel Kheir al-Din, a journalist with a local TV station, said the strike flattened his family house and severely damaged three neighbouring homes.
He said 12 members of his family – including three children aged two, seven and eight – were buried and presumed dead, adding that nine neighbours were missing.
In central Gaza, Israeli war planes and artillery pounded the built-up Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, levelling buildings, residents said.
Israel said this week it would expand its ground offensive into central Gaza, and typically launches waves of air strikes and shelling before troops and tanks move in.
A hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 25 people killed overnight, including five children and seven women, hospital records showed on Thursday.
Non-stop explosions could be heard throughout the night in the town – where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter, with many spending the cold nights sleeping on pavements.
“It was another night of killing and massacres,” said Saeed Moustafa, a resident of the Nuseirat camp.
He said people were still crying out from the rubble of a house hit by an air strike on Wednesday.
“We are unable to get them out. We hear their screams but we don’t have equipment,” he said.
Further south, in Khan Younis, the Palestinian Red Crescent said a strike near its Al-Amal Hospital killed at least 10 people and wounded another 12.
Much of the city’s population has left, but many are sheltering near Al-Amal and another hospital, hoping they will be spared from the bombardment.
Under international humanitarian law, it is a war crime to target hospitals in military attacks.
Rami Abu Mosab, who lives in the Bureij refugee camp, said thousands of people have fled their homes in recent days because of the intense bombardment. He plans to remain there because he doesn’t feel that anywhere in Gaza is safe.
“Here is death and there is death,” he said. “To die in your home is better.”
The UN previously said the attack on the Jabalia refugee camp at the end of October could constitute a war crime, due to the high number of civilian deaths.
As Israel has broadened its offensive, fleeing Palestinians have packed into areas along the Egyptian border and the southern Mediterranean coastline, where shelters and tent camps are overflowing. Even in those areas, Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets.
