Israel airstrikes on Gaza Strips still claiming civilian lives as of this Sunday, with the death toll reaching 31 and the number of injured increasing to over 260 individuals.
As the number of dead and injured in the recent three-day Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip continue to increase, the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to discuss the Israeli assault in New York this Monday.
The Council agreed to hold the meeting after receiving requests from a number of countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ireland, France, Norway, and China to do so on Saturday.
In addition, Lynn Hastings, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied territories of Palestine, expressed her grave concern for the situation in Gaza; “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is already dire and can only worsen with this most recent escalation. The principles of international humanitarian law including those of distinction, precaution, and proportionality must be respected by all parties,” Hastings noted in a statement Sunday.
The statement also emphasized that residential areas in the Gaza Strip have been severely damaged and a large number of residents have become completely homeless, also stating that “the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is currently dire and will worsen if the conflict continues.”
But despite the UN concerns, Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced in a statement that the “Dawn Operation” against the Islamic Jihad will continue as long as necessary; “We are acting in a purposeful and responsible manner to minimize harm to those not involved,” the Israeli prime minister said this Saturday.
The irony, however, is that in less than three days, the death toll from Israel’s attacks on Gaza has reached 31, six of whom were children. More than 260 people were also injured in these attacks.
The Israeli army also announced that as of this Sunday, it hit 139 positions of Islamic Jihad. However, it seems that Israel’s targets were mostly urban areas, and the high number of civilians killed and wounded so far is very well proof of that.
Israel reportedly halted fuel shipments to Gaza shortly before launching its offensive on Friday, knocking out the area’s only power plant and cutting electricity to about four hours a day. has reduced
Despite the efforts by international mediators, including the United Nations, the clashes between Israeli and Palestinian forces in the Gaza Strip continue until today. About 2.3 million Palestinians live in a crowded area in the narrow coastal strip of Gaza, and Israel has for long restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of this area allegedly due to security concerns.
Khaled Mansour among the new casualties
The Islamic Jihad movement confirmed in a statement on Sunday that Khaled Mansour, one of the senior commanders of the organization, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip this Saturday evening. Mansour is the second high-ranking member of the Islamic Jihad movement to be killed by Israeli forces. Earlier on Friday, Israel assassinated Taysar al-Jabari, another commander of the group.
The Ministry of Interior of the Gaza Strip announced that the bodies of 7 people, including a child and two women, were found in the building that was targeted for Mansour’s assassination.
Mansour was one of the founders of the Quds Battalions military organization in Gaza and he was involved in many Palestinian Islamic Jihad operations against Israel. He joined the Islamic Jihad movement in 1988 and is considered the main planner of the martyrdom operation in the Aqsa Intifada in 2005-2000.
According to the words of PM Lapid, the assassination of Khalid Mansour was an important achievement for Israel, and that the operation in Gaza will continue as long as necessary.
