Israel Launches More Strikes Against Gaza After Horrific Massacre, Death Toll Exceeds 3,400 (Videos)

Click to see full-size image. By the Israeli Air Force.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched more strikes against the Gaza Strip on October 18, ignoring the horrific massacre at the Christian-run al-Ahli Arab Hospital which claimed the lives of more than 500 Palestinians just a day earlier.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said in its latest update that the number of people killed in the Strip has now risen to 3,478, with more than 13,000 injured since the fighting began on October 7.

A spokesman for the ministry said that continued Israeli strikes on Gaza “constitute ethnic cleansing and a threat to the Palestinian existence”.

Seventy percent of the victims of the Israeli aggression are children, women and the elderly, according to the spokesman, who noted some 1,300 people still under the rubble, including 600 children.

There are people still alive and stuck under the rubble of destroyed buildings “but the process of reaching them faces great difficulties due to continuous targeting,” the spokesman added.

One of the deadliest Israeli strikes during the day targeted a house in Khan Younis city. Medical sources in Gaza told Anadolu Agency that 12 Palestinains were killed there. Dozens more were wounded in the shelling on the city’s eastern outskirts.

From its side, the IDF said that it had killed two more senior Hamas commanders in Gaza, among dozens of other targets struck in the Strip over the past day. According to the IDF, Muhammad Awdallah, head of the anti-tank guided missile array of the Gaza City Brigade, and Akram Hijazi, a Hamas naval forces commander, were targeted and killed.

Hamas didn’t comment on these claims. However, the group acknowledged a day earlier that Ayman Nofal, a member of its General Military Council and commander of the Central Gaza Brigade, was killed in an Israeli strike.

In response to the al-Ahli Arab Hospital massacre and recent Israeli strikes on Gaza, Hamas and other armed factions in Gaza carried out two rocket attacks against air bases in southern Israel, eight others against Tel Aviv city in the central region and one more against the port city of Haifa in the northern region. Several other rocket and mortar attacks targeted settlements, bases and military gatherings near the Strip.

It’s worth noting that the death toll from the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel has exceeded 1,400. More than 3,000 were also wounded. Hamas said that more than 200 Israelis were captured by its fighters. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad reported the capture of more than 30 others.

The al-Ahli Arab Hospital massacre led to backlash against Israel, especially in Arab and Islamic countries. However, United States President Joe Bide stressed its support for Israel upon arriving in the country after the massacre, adopting the IDF’s claims that a Palestinian rocket misfire was behind the deadly blast at the hospital.

With strong and unconditional support from the U.S., Israel will likely launch a ground invasion into Gaza in coming days. This could lead to a large-scale confrontation in the Middle East, especially considering the rumors of an Israeli plan to displace more than two million Palestinians from the Strip and reoccupy it.

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