'There Is No Safe Haven': Israeli Bombing Rampage Hits Gaza Refugee Camp, Homes, and More

Israeli airstrikes rained down across the densely populated Gaza Strip on Monday, reportedly killing dozens at the enclave's largest refugee camp, damaging the children's wing of a major hospital, and hitting the occupied territory's main university and residential buildings.

"Everything ground up has been bombed," Raji Sourani, a lawyer with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, told Democracy Now! as bombs could be heard falling in the background.

"There is no safe haven in this place," said Sourani.

Tens of thousands of Gazans have already been displaced by the Israeli bombing campaign, which has killed hundreds of people thus far—including dozens of children and entire families, according to the besieged territory's health ministry.

Far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to social media a minute-long video of airstrikes leveling buildings in Gaza.

Those attempting to flee the assault, which follows a deadly Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend, often have nowhere safe to hide. The Associated Pressreported that 57-year-old Nasser Abu Quta believed he and his extended family would be protected at his four-story residential building after the Israeli military fired a warning shot on Sunday signaling that a nearby home would be targeted.

"But the house of Abu Quta's neighbor was never hit," AP noted. "In an instant, an explosion ripped through his own home, wiping out 19 members of his family, including his wife and cousins, he said. The airstrike also killed five of his neighbors who were standing outside in the jam-packed refugee camp, a jumble of buildings and alleyways."

On Monday, a Red Crescent paramedic toldThe New York Times that an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp killed at least 60 people. According to the Times, the bombing began "as vendors and customers packed the marketplace, stocking up on food and produce amid widespread fears that Israeli airstrikes will intensify."

Doctors Without Borders said its team treated more than 50 people in Al Awda hospital following the bombing.

"Our Palestinian colleagues are working day and night to cope with the influx of wounded," Matthias Kannes, the organization's head of mission in Gaza, said in a statement.

In addition to ordering a total blockade of Gaza—a move that legal experts called a war crime—Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant demanded an intensification of the destructive bombing campaign on Monday as human rights organizations issued pleas for an immediate cease-fire.

"This escalation in violence comes on top of an existing dire humanitarian situation for the 2.2 million people who live in Gaza, a strip of land just 365 km2 in size," the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in a statement. "Power cuts and fuel shortages warn of a looming disaster for people, damaging access to healthcare, electricity, and clean water. As of now, electricity is limited to only four hours a day, and fuel supplies will run out within a few days."

"The fighting must stop immediately," the group added. "The events are going to have long-term humanitarian consequences on Israeli and Palestinian civilians involved."

Jan Egeland, NRC's secretary-general, toldAP in response to Israel's blockade on Gaza that "there is no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law."

"If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of a lack of energy, electricity, and supplies," Egeland added, "it could amount to war crimes."

Among the buildings impacted by Israeli bombing on Monday was the children's ward of the Shifa Medical Complex Hospital. Citing Gaza's health ministry, Middle East Eye reported that the facility "has been damaged in Israel's bombing of the besieged enclave."

"The shelling has caused parts of the ceiling to collapse and fall, almost hitting a premature baby," the outlet added.

Far from pushing for an end to the violence, the U.S. is preparing to send weaponry and warships to support Israel as it carries out its large-scale assault on the Gaza Strip and readies a ground invasion.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretzobserved Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "deleted a tweet where he called for a cease-fire—the second such instance in the past several days when U.S. officials have deleted tweets encouraging Israeli restraint."

"The new tweet replaced the cease-fire language with 'Israel has the right to defend itself, rescue any hostages, and protect its citizens,'" the outlet reported.

The prospects of months of deadly fighting and a potentially broadening Middle East war sent the share prices of major weapons makers surging, with Lockheed Martin's stock rising more than 8% on Monday.

"Israel is bombing Gaza now harder than ever," Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American political analyst, wrote on social media. "People in Gaza, who have survived many wars, are saying this is more barbaric than anything they have seen before. No one knows where to go and the bombs are being dropped everywhere."

This story has been updated to include a statement from Doctors Without Borders.