Day 316 of Israeli Genocide in Gaza: 40,074 Martyred, 92,537 Injured
The so-called "humanitarian zone" has been reduced by "Israel" to just 11% of the Gaza Strip, which has left the displaced in a state of chaos and terror.
On day 316 of the genocide in Gaza, the total number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip started on October 7 has risen to 40,074, in addition to 92,537 injuries, according to the daily report published by the Health Ministry in Gaza on Saturday.
“Israel” committed five massacres in 48 hours, killing 69 Palestinians and injuring 136 others, despite the ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha.
While some were transported to partially functioning hospitals, many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble with rescue crews unable to reach them.
Meanwhile, the so-called “humanitarian zone” has been reduced by “Israel” to just 11% of the Gaza Strip, which has left the displaced in a state of chaos and terror, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
In an X post, UNRWA said: “Thousands of families in Gaza have been displaced as the occupation authorities issue new evacuation orders,” adding, “Once again, fear spreads as families have nowhere to go. People remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale.”
Thousands of families continue to be displaced in #Gaza as Israeli authorities issue new evacuation orders. The so-called “humanitarian zone” has shrunk to just 11% of the #GazaStrip, causing chaos and fear among the displaced.
They have nowhere safe to go. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/0VC7QhOuqe
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 17, 2024
By mid-August, Gaza’s Health Ministry identified by name 32,280 Palestinians killed by “Israel” amid its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. They have been classified as civilians due to their age or gender, including 10,627 children, 5,956 women, and 2,770 elderly people.
Other civilian casualties include 168 journalists, 855 medical staff, and 79 paramedics. This accounts for more than 20,000 civilians and excludes many civilian men who have also been killed just because of their age.
This toll is unprecedented in the decades-long struggle between “Israel” and Palestine, and historically extraordinarily high. Massive bombs fall daily, often killing dozens at a time. Survivors of each Israeli attack are left not only to grieve but also to grapple with the trauma of living under the constant threat of death and the looming fear of further attacks.
Intense Israeli bombing on Khan Younis
In recent hours, many Palestinians have been killed and others injured, with many being transferred to the Kuwait Specialized Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the vicinity of the Hamad Residential City in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Israeli warplanes also bombed the al-Amwaj hall west of Rafah in southern Gaza, along with other locations in western Rafah.
In the central region of the Gaza Strip, Israeli artillery targeted areas in the eastern part of the central governorate.
Early on Saturday, 16 Palestinians were killed and others injured as Israeli forces struck a warehouse in the al-Zawayda area in central Gaza. Additionally, Israeli artillery shelled areas north of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the central region.
Waves of displacement
Once again, Israeli occupation forces have forced Palestinians in certain areas and camps within Gaza to flee their homes, which have been destroyed, or where they were seeking shelter, further aggravating their suffering.
In a statement, Gaza’s Civil Defense agency highlighted that “Israel’s” reduction of areas it designates as “safe humanitarian zones” in eastern and central Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, and the al-Maghazi and al-Zawayda regions has placed over 450,000 people under new humanitarian challenges.
The statement emphasized that the repeated displacement of thousands of Palestinians in southern Khan Younis and refugee camps in central Gaza has led to overcrowding under harsh conditions that threaten lives and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.
The agency underlined that international humanitarian law prohibits the forced displacement of civilians through fear, violence, or starvation, and the Geneva Conventions forbid the separation and displacement of families — actions that Israeli occupation forces have been committing against Palestinian families in Gaza since October 7, 2023.’
It added that the current situation underscores “Israel’s” continued violation of international humanitarian laws and human rights.
Al-Awda Hospital’s operations threatened by fuel shortage
Meanwhile, the administration of the al-Awda Hospital in Tal al-Zaatar, northern Gaza, warned that the hospital might cease operations within 24 hours unless fuel supplies arrive from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Acting hospital director Mohammad Salha stated on Saturday that the health sector in northern Gaza faces a severe crisis due to shortages of medical supplies and fuel, which jeopardizes the continuation of medical services.
He mentioned that the al-Awda Hospital currently relies on small generators to provide care for patients and the wounded.
According to data from the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 30 hospitals have been rendered out of service due to Israeli attacks since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Futile talks
As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit “Israel” to allegedly conclude a truce agreement in Gaza, which officials believe could prevent a wider regional war, deadly Israeli attacks struck both Gaza and Lebanon on Saturday.
It was deemed one of the deadliest strikes to hit southern Lebanon. According to “Israel”, it claims to have bombed a Lebanese Resistance (Hezbollah) arms depot, which was refuted by the testimonies of locals.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, rescuers from the Civil Defense reported that an Israeli airstrike murdered 17 members of a single Palestinian family, the al-Ajli.
Omar al-Dreemli, a relative of the family, told AFP, “We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered.”
Following two days of negotiations on a Gaza truce in Qatar, the mediators issued a joint statement claiming to have given both sides a proposal that “bridges remaining gaps”.
Talks to reach a ceasefire are resuming in Cairo “before the end of next week”, according to a joint statement from Qatar, Egypt, and the US.
However, Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas political bureau in the Gaza Strip, stressed that “Israel” has thwarted the Doha negotiations regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and the efforts of mediators, adding that none of the disputed issues have been settled during the talks.
In an interview on Friday, Hamad made it clear that no agreement can be reached without a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Gaza, the return of displaced people, and the completion of a prisoner exchange deal.
US President Joe Biden declared on Friday that “we are closer than we have ever been” to a truce on the war on Gaza, but Biden’s remark, according to senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri, is an “illusion”.
After “Israel” killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s top commander, Fouad Shokor, in late July, the stakes have risen dramatically.
