
A man carries the body of a dead child at Nasser Hospital after Israeli air strikes on the city of Khan Yunis at dawn today.
'Dying, Dying, Dying': Israel Told Gazans to Flee South—Where It Continues to Bomb
"The situation is catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic," said the director of a UNRWA shelter in Khan Younis. "No words in the world can describe the situation we are in."
The Israeli military continued to pummel Gaza with airstrikes on Sunday, including residential neighborhoods in the south, as a top IDF commander said the bombing would now intensify ahead of an expected ground invasion.
Despite urging Palestinians and others caught in Gaza to flee the northern areas, bombings that claimed the lives of yet more civilians—including children—were reported in Khan Younis and the city of Rafah.
The attacks came hours after the IDF's Rear Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south "for your own safety."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in." —Rawya Halas, Gaza Training College
"We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war," Hagari said, possibly hinting at the ground invasion. "We are going to increase the attacks, from today."
Graphic footage posted to social media showed wounded toddlers being transported for emergency healthcare after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis:
In an update on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of those killed by Israeli airstrikes, citing Gaza Ministry of Health figures, had surpassed 4,300. Of those killed, said OCHA, 62% were children and women.
The ministry itself later on Saturday put out numbers that said 4,651 people have been killed, including 1,873 children.
In a video posted overnight from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Rawya Halas, director of the Gaza Training College and head of the UNWRA shelter there, said the situation was "catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in," Rawya added. "I beg you, save Gaza. It's dying, it's dying, it's dying. There are children, elderly and adults for whom I cannot provide. I am the UNRWA. I am the head of this shelter, and I can't offer them anything. Neither food nor water. There is nothing, nothing."
The OCHA estimates 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced and that 42% of the housing units in the territory have been damaged or totally destroyed by the IDF bombing campaign.
The Israeli military on Oct. 13 ordered all civilians in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip to evacuate towards the south ahead of an increased bombing campaign and a potential ground invasion by Israeli Defense Forces troops amassed on the border.
But even as critics noted at the time the order would be impossible to comply with for many and should be seen as the prelude to "mass atrocities," many Palestinians fled toward the south to seek refuge from the unrelenting assault and humanitarian crisis.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The Israeli military continued to pummel Gaza with airstrikes on Sunday, including residential neighborhoods in the south, as a top IDF commander said the bombing would now intensify ahead of an expected ground invasion.
Despite urging Palestinians and others caught in Gaza to flee the northern areas, bombings that claimed the lives of yet more civilians—including children—were reported in Khan Younis and the city of Rafah.
The attacks came hours after the IDF's Rear Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south "for your own safety."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in." —Rawya Halas, Gaza Training College
"We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war," Hagari said, possibly hinting at the ground invasion. "We are going to increase the attacks, from today."
Graphic footage posted to social media showed wounded toddlers being transported for emergency healthcare after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis:
In an update on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of those killed by Israeli airstrikes, citing Gaza Ministry of Health figures, had surpassed 4,300. Of those killed, said OCHA, 62% were children and women.
The ministry itself later on Saturday put out numbers that said 4,651 people have been killed, including 1,873 children.
In a video posted overnight from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Rawya Halas, director of the Gaza Training College and head of the UNWRA shelter there, said the situation was "catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in," Rawya added. "I beg you, save Gaza. It's dying, it's dying, it's dying. There are children, elderly and adults for whom I cannot provide. I am the UNRWA. I am the head of this shelter, and I can't offer them anything. Neither food nor water. There is nothing, nothing."
The OCHA estimates 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced and that 42% of the housing units in the territory have been damaged or totally destroyed by the IDF bombing campaign.
The Israeli military on Oct. 13 ordered all civilians in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip to evacuate towards the south ahead of an increased bombing campaign and a potential ground invasion by Israeli Defense Forces troops amassed on the border.
But even as critics noted at the time the order would be impossible to comply with for many and should be seen as the prelude to "mass atrocities," many Palestinians fled toward the south to seek refuge from the unrelenting assault and humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military continued to pummel Gaza with airstrikes on Sunday, including residential neighborhoods in the south, as a top IDF commander said the bombing would now intensify ahead of an expected ground invasion.
Despite urging Palestinians and others caught in Gaza to flee the northern areas, bombings that claimed the lives of yet more civilians—including children—were reported in Khan Younis and the city of Rafah.
The attacks came hours after the IDF's Rear Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south "for your own safety."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in." —Rawya Halas, Gaza Training College
"We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war," Hagari said, possibly hinting at the ground invasion. "We are going to increase the attacks, from today."
Graphic footage posted to social media showed wounded toddlers being transported for emergency healthcare after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis:
In an update on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of those killed by Israeli airstrikes, citing Gaza Ministry of Health figures, had surpassed 4,300. Of those killed, said OCHA, 62% were children and women.
The ministry itself later on Saturday put out numbers that said 4,651 people have been killed, including 1,873 children.
In a video posted overnight from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Rawya Halas, director of the Gaza Training College and head of the UNWRA shelter there, said the situation was "catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic."
"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in," Rawya added. "I beg you, save Gaza. It's dying, it's dying, it's dying. There are children, elderly and adults for whom I cannot provide. I am the UNRWA. I am the head of this shelter, and I can't offer them anything. Neither food nor water. There is nothing, nothing."
The OCHA estimates 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced and that 42% of the housing units in the territory have been damaged or totally destroyed by the IDF bombing campaign.
The Israeli military on Oct. 13 ordered all civilians in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip to evacuate towards the south ahead of an increased bombing campaign and a potential ground invasion by Israeli Defense Forces troops amassed on the border.
But even as critics noted at the time the order would be impossible to comply with for many and should be seen as the prelude to "mass atrocities," many Palestinians fled toward the south to seek refuge from the unrelenting assault and humanitarian crisis.

