• Source:Reuters
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At least four people were charred to death and 70 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's Deir al Balah on Monday morning. The airstrike hit the tents of displaced Palestinians near Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza City, where a million displaced people were sheltering, Palestinian officials said. The attack occurred amid an escalating Israeli offensive that has resulted in widespread devastation, with over 42,000 people killed and nearly a lakh wounded since the beginning of the conflict.

The airstrike caused a massive fire, trapping individuals inside, with video footage on social media showing people being burned alive, although this footage could not be independently verified by Jagran English. 

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed the strike was aimed at militants using a command centre located within the hospital compound. The Israeli military accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructures, including hospitals, for military purposes, a claim that Hamas denies.

This is not the first instance of the IDF targeting civilian infrastructure. Palestinian officials have pointed out that hospitals, schools and refugee camps have repeatedly been struck in the ongoing Israeli offensive. 

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On Sunday, Israeli tank shelling at a school in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least 22 Palestinians, including 15 women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run media office. Another 80 people were wounded in the attack. Earlier that day, five children were killed in the Shati refugee camp by a missile fired from an Israeli drone while they were playing near a cafe, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA. The Israeli military has not yet commented on either incident.

The escalating violence has prompted international concern. Joyce Msuya, acting head of UN aid, expressed alarm on social media, calling the situation in northern Gaza ''terrifying beyond words.'' She described the intensifying attacks, the forced displacement of civilians and the severe shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in the region. Hospitals have been forced to evacuate patients, leaving many without essential care. "The atrocities must end," Msuya added.

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Despite the main focus of Israeli military operations being on northern Gaza, other regions of the Gaza Strip continue to suffer from airstrikes. On Sunday alone, Gaza's health ministry reported at least 34 people killed in various strikes. Northern Gaza, which is home to more than half of the territory's 2.3 million people, has been bombarded heavily since Israeli military operations intensified following the October 7 attacks by Hamas. 

The ongoing violence has further strained Gaza’s humanitarian situation, with Palestinian and United Nations officials warning that there are no safe areas left in Gaza. Severe shortages of essential supplies and the risk of famine loom large, particularly in northern Gaza, where residents are cut off from aid and forced to endure the brutal conflict without adequate resources.

(With agency inputs)