‘Hell on Earth’ in Gaza: Israel strikes hit Deir el-Balah

Nearly 200 people have been killed in less than two days since the resumption of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Injured children are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment after an Israeli attack in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, on December 2, 2023. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Published On 2 Dec 20232 Dec 2023Israel’s attacks on Gaza have stretched into a second day after a seven-day truce with Hamas ended as Qatar and Egypt mediate talks to renew a pause in hostilities.

The United Nations said on Saturday that the fighting would worsen the extreme humanitarian emergency in Gaza.

“Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva.

“Today, in a matter of hours, scores were reportedly killed and injured. Families were told to evacuate, again. Hopes were dashed,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said, adding that children, women and men of Gaza had “nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on”.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza said Israeli tanks have not stopped shelling the enclave and gunboats are attacking its coastline.

“Houses have been targeted. At least three mosques were hit. Areas across the Gaza Strip – the north, south and centre – have all been targeted.”

The Israeli army said on Saturday that it hit more than 400 targets overnight, including in the Khan Younis area in the south, to which tens of thousands of civilians evacuated over the past month.

Palestinian rescue teams and civilians search for survivors in the rubble of buildings hit by Israeli air raids in Deir el-Balah. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have caused residential buildings to collapse. Because emergency workers have little equipment at their disposal, the bodies of the dead often have to be left under the rubble. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]

People injured in Israeli strikes are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment in Deir el-Balah. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

The wounded wait to receive treatment at Al-Aqsa Hospital on December 2, 2023, as Israel's attacks on Gaza have stretched into a second day after a seven-day truce with Hamas ended. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Two-year-old Palestinian Larin Hussein, who was injured in an Israeli attack, is brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. She had previously lost her parents in an Israeli air strike. [Doaa Albaz/Anadolu Agency]

Few hospitals are still functioning in Gaza. Many have been targeted by Israel since the war started on October 7, and they have few supplies and little if any electricity. [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Relatives perform funeral prayers for five members of the Sabah family who were killed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah. [Doaa Albaz/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinians are buried in mass graves in Deir el-Balah after Israel restarted its bombardment of Gaza on December 1, 2023. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinians mourn their relatives at a cemetery in Deir el-Balah. [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]

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 Blogger's note:  At church this morning I sat behind a young couple who were holding a precious little baby.  Its eyes were so bright and innocent.  I am sure that there are babies just like that in Gaza, but hell surrounds them.  The inhumanity of the so-called "God's Chosen People" that is rained down on them by US made bombs, and white phosphorous is not justified.  When Jesus came the last time into Jerusalem he stopped and cried for Jerusalem.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13:34–35).

I weep for  my own country as I think of the separation of the sheep from the goats.