The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli military fire since dawn today has risen to 54, according to Hamas-run medical sources in Gaza who spoke to Al Jazeera. Among the victims, 31 were killed in Gaza City and seven were shot dead while seeking desperately needed aid in the central and southern areas of the Strip.
Gaza medical sources had previously reported a morning toll of 31 civilians, including three people seeking aid south of Khan Yunis. In a separate incident, seven members of a single family were killed in their tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Three civilians were also killed in the Israeli bombing of a house in Gaza City’s Al-Sabra neighborhood. Additionally, an Israeli airstrike on a tent southwest of Gaza City killed four Palestinians, including three children, and wounded others.
Residents described an infernal night marked by heavy bombardment. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted raids in several locations, including Nablus, arresting at least four people, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
A report from The Guardian, based on classified data, reveals that only one in four Gazans detained by Israel has been identified as a fighter by Israeli military intelligence. Civilians constitute the vast majority of Palestinians held “without charge or trial in abusive detention.” The report, produced with +972 Magazine and Local Call, states that those incarcerated for long periods without charge include “health workers, teachers, civil servants, media workers, writers, people who are ill, people with disabilities, and children.”
Among the most egregious cases cited is that of an 82-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease, who was sentenced to six weeks in prison, and a single mother who was separated from her young children. When the mother was released after 53 days, “she found her children begging on the streets.” The report also details that the Sde Teiman military base at one point held so many sick, disabled, and elderly Palestinians that they were kept in a dedicated hangar, which serving soldiers nicknamed “the geriatric compound.”
The data indicates that of the approximately 47,000 suspected militants affiliated with Hamas or other armed organizations as of last May, only 1,450 were among those arrested. This figure represents roughly a quarter of all Palestinians incarcerated by Israel since the October 7th massacres two years ago.