A Gaza hospital after Israeli bombing in 2009
A Gaza Strip resident told Sky News that Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) exchanged rocket fire over the border from around 12:30 am to 4 am. At least 60 Palestinian civilians were killed and hundreds were wounded in the bombardment. Thousands of local Gaza residents were forced to leave their homes.
Sky News reporters announced that the refugees from the neighborhood under rocket fire had nothing except the clothes they were wearing at the time. No one was seen carrying bags or other kinds of supplies.
The shelling this Sunday was the heaviest since the IDF began its attack on the 8th of July. An IDF spokesperson announced that the She'jayia residents (the town under rocket fire) had received recorded warnings of the attack to evacuate the area and save their own lives before the strike began. However, the Gaza militant group Hamas told locals to not pay attention to the warnings.
The recent Palestinian death toll has reached 400 over the last 13 days. Al Jazeera even reported that among the 60 that were killed in She'jayia included the son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, Osama and his wife, along with their two children. Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees are reported to have fled the Gaza Strip and reached U.N. refugee camps for protection.
Meanwhile, Israeli leaders and the IDF insiders continue to justify their attacks on the Gaza Strip. Naftali Bennett, Israel's economic minister stated that Hamas members were using civilians, especially women and children as human shields (Sky News). Bennett described such actions as cynical and cowardly and that Israel had every right to defend its borders from the Hamas threat.
