Massacres Unabated in Khan Yunis!
Following orders to forcefully relocate over 250,000 people, the Israeli occupation forces on Monday, July 22, purposefully carried out a mass death slaughter. The army did not hesitate to unleash fire belts, artillery bombardment, and scores of airstrikes on houses, streets, and groups of displaced people who had fled in their hundreds, looking for a safety that did not exist.
In under 12 hours, the Israeli army in Khan Yunis killed over 70 Palestinians and wounded over 200 more, the most of whom were women and children. For the eighth straight month, Israel has been committing genocide on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and this is part of it. Approximately 1,217 families made distress calls to the civil defense today, appealing for help in escaping the intensive fire and sporadic shelling that were aimed at the eastern Khan Yunis areas. But for the most part, they were unable to answer these calls. Many martyrs were reportedly found on the streets and beneath homes' debris that could not be excavated, and after October 7th, the number of people reported missing has sharply increased. The number of missing people has now topped 20,000, according to civil defense teams. The majority of these people were trapped beneath the debris from fallen homes, buildings, and towers. Some of these missing people may have died on the streets, decaying unburied by their relatives, while others may have waited hours for a helping hand before passing away.
The number of casualties increased as a result of the Israeli army's use of aerial bombardment, shooting from quadcopter drones, and direct and haphazard artillery firing targeting people. Rescue crews are unable to remove many of the victims, who are still under the debris and on the streets. In "Bani Suheila," ambulance staff were attacked directly while trying to transport the wounded, injuring two paramedics from civil defense.
The army claimed that the orders for relocation were only temporary, however the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reports that Israeli forces penetrated the town of Bani Suheila during extremely intensive bombardment. This is identical to what happened earlier this month when the Israeli army issued similar displacement orders and carried out extensive air raids without land invasions, misleading the locals, many of whom were unable to flee because of the bombing or thought it was just a series of airstrikes.
Two Palestinian Red Crescent clinics were forced to close due to aerial bombardment, while numerous more health centers experienced disruptions as a result of orders for forced removal.