Since a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes have continued across the Gaza Strip, with northern Gaza facing the heaviest attacks, emergency officials in the area said Friday morning.
Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency services organization, announced that more than twenty children were among the dead, and that more than 200 people were injured in the entire area. Most of the victims were in the city of Gaza, where more than 80 Palestinians were killed, the Civil Defense announced.
The group’s figures could not be independently verified. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority, said Israeli warplanes attacked houses in the northeastern part of Gaza, resulting in deaths and injuries. Rescuers and emergency teams were unable to reach the area to retrieve the bodies, Wafa said.
Ahmad al-Mashharwi, who took refuge with more than a dozen family members in a rented house in Gaza City, described the attacks as merciless.
“The ceasefire seems pointless,” he said in a telephone interview. “Artillery and airstrikes continue around us, especially in northern Gaza.”
The ceasefire, if it goes into effect, should pave the way for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza. Mr al-Mashharwi said conditions in northern Gaza were dire, with prices soaring and even the most basic goods in short supply.
“We can’t afford food or clean water, and my children are starving,” he said. “Everything has been taken away from us – no security, no resources, nothing to help us survive.”
