Israel kills over 110 Palestinians in mass-casualty attacks across Gaza
The Israeli army has been relentlessly bombing any remaining schools, mosques, and shelters in Gaza as it seeks to expand its occupation of the strip
The Israeli army killed at least 112 Palestinians on 3 April in multiple attacks across the besieged Gaza Strip, including 71 in Gaza City, where strikes targeted dozens of families seeking shelter at the Dar al-Arqam School.
Thirty-one Palestinians, including 18 children, women, and elderly people, were killed during the Dar al-Arqam School bombing. Hours after this massacre, Israeli warplanes bombed another school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, killing three Palestinians and injuring many more.
"This barbaric Israeli aggression comes amid an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, with the health sector suffering a near-total collapse due to the destruction of hospitals and the ongoing blockade, making it extremely difficult to provide medical care to the wounded," the Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement.
Thursday's mass-casualty attacks come as the Israeli army issued new forced evacuation orders of multiple neighborhoods in north and south Gaza.
About 135,000 Palestinians fled over the past 24 hours from the northern Gaza Strip, most on foot, as Israel is reportedly preparing a major ground assault of the area.
“My wife and I have been walking for three hours covering only 1km,” Mohammad Ermana, 72, told Al-Jazeera. “I’m searching for shelters every hour now, not every day,” he added,
Israel has issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza ahead of an expected major ground assault.
The latest forced expulsion orders were issued shortly after the Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), said it targeted the Nahal Oz military site near Gaza’s barrier with a number of rockets.
Israel unilaterally ended a US-sponsored ceasefire in Gaza on 18 March, unleashing a mass bombing campaign that killed nearly 500 people in 24 hours.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to occupy a new corridor in southern Gaza to cut off the city of Rafah on the Egypt border from the city of Khan Yunis to its north.
“We are now cutting off the strip, and we are increasing the pressure step by step … so they will give us our hostages. The longer they refuse to give them up, the more the pressure will increase until they do,” Netanyahu said.