Atleast 22 Killed in Gaza Shelling Attack Near ICRC Office
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that 22 people were killed in the process of shelling that also affected one of its offices in Gaza. The office is located very close to the tent cities that accommodate several hundreds of refugees Palestinians.
The Gaza’s health ministry, affiliated to Hamas, stated that 25 people died and 50 were wounded from shelling, blaming Israel for the attack. The ministry requires that Israelis shelling on Friday attacked tents of the displaced in the al-Mawasi area near the ICRC base.
Seven of the deceased were shot while attempting to save others who were petrified at the start of the bombings, several people shouted to the AP.
Regarding the “heavy-caliber projectiles,” which the unknown side fired at the ICRC office, the latter did not indicate their origin but admitted on X social platform that the shells inflicted damage to the office’s structure. Of the groups, the organization said 22 bodies and 45 persons with injuries were rushed to a Red Cross field hospital, and other cases of injured individuals were reported.
Both Al-Mawasi and Rafah had been termed as ‘humanitarian zones’ by Israel, and thousands of people ran towards the area, escaping Israel’s operation on Rafah. Ahmed Radwan, a civil defense official in Rafah, said witnesses had described shelling in two areas comprised of makeshift tents outside the officially recognized no-fire zone.
The Israeli military said that it was investigating the circumstances of the attack, saying that neither the safe zone nor the entire region attacked by the IDF proved that there was a strike within the safe zone. As for the targets and the specifics of the episode, they did not release any additional information.
In the past, Israel targeted al-Mawasi, which is a slumber area with no provision for water and septic sewerage, and Palestinians suffering from poor living standards. One oral interviewee said tanks are throwing ‘balls of fire’ into the tents of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Eye-witnesses stated that second shots were fired at the fleeing inhabitants, some of them shot while coming out of their tents. One woman, Mona Ashour, said the first attack was a big bang and a flash; her husband got up to check what was wrong. The second one near the Red Cross tents killed him.
Hasan al-Najjar affirmed that his sons were murdered while assisting the people who panicked following the first attack. He added, “They went to save the women and children, and they assaulted with the second bullet, and my sons were killed. ”
Since this incident, the international community has condemned Israel after its bombing last month, which led to a major fire in a refugee camp in south Gaza that killed at least one person and injured more than 86 others.
The ICRC criticized the shelling, as large-caliber shells fell near the organization’s building and people’s homes; civilians and Red Cross staff were endangered. The organization has received several security threats lately, namely bullets that have been shot in their structures. Laws of armed conflicts should be observed, and civilian populations and their property should be spared, said the ICRC.
Health ministries of Palestine also stated that at least 45 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack across the Gaza Strip on Friday. In these nine months, over 37,400 people have been killed in Gaza, with thousands still unaccounted for, still stuck under the debris, and roughly tens of thousands of others injured. The conflict, which began with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, saw near destruction of all dwellings in Gaza, wherein almost every family is now an IDP.
ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric has requested both Israel and Hamas to spare the civilians, which she expressed is the thin line between civilization and savagery.
