Israeli Attacks Kill 33 Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israeli attacks killed 33 Palestinians and wounded 134 over the previous 24-hour period.

Strikes on Wednesday included the bombing of a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, marking the second day in a row that Israeli forces struck a school-turned-shelter in the northern city.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that at least 12 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed by the Israeli strike on the al-Tabin school.

A survivor of the strike who was sheltering at the school with his daughters and grandchildren told Al Jazeera that he thought his eight-month-old grandchild, who was left “buried in the sand,” but said, “But by the grace of God, that wasn’t the case.”

WAFA also reported an Israeli strike on the northern city of Beith Lahia, which has been under a total siege since early October, killed a pregnant woman and injured five other civilians.

In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes hit a crowd of people near the city of Khan Younis, killing two and wounding three others.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the latest violence brought its death toll since October 2023 to 44,282 and the number of wounded to 104,880. The ministry only counts the number of dead and wounded Palestinians who are brought to hospitals and morgues.

“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.

A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza estimated in an open letter to President Biden in October that the US-backed Israeli onslaught has killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, a total that includes indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who led the letter, told Antiwar.com in a recent interview that the estimate was the bare minimum they came up with by looking at the available data.