Israeli air strikes take Gaza death toll to 24, including five children

The Israeli forces continued their operation in Gaza with large-scale deadly attacks on overcrowded residential areas, taking the toll to at least 24 people killed since Friday, with at least 203 civilians having been wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Four minors and a teenager were killed in a suspected Israeli air strike that hit a residential area near a mosque in the overcrowded Jabalia refugee camp north of the Gaza Strip late on Saturday.

The victims were identified as Momen al-Nairab, five, Hazem Salem, nine, Khalil Shubair, 10, Ahmad al-Nairb, 11 and Khalil Abu Hamada, 19.

A further 15 people were wounded, most of whom were children.

It was literally a massacre. There are no other words to describe it. I'm still in shock at what I saw. They were just children. What is their crime? said one of the eyewitnesses.

The Israeli army denied conducting any air strikes in the area at the time of the blast, saying it was likely a misfired Palestinian rocket.

At the same time, another wave of heavy bombing hit Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip. The strike hit a house belonging to the al-Mudallal family.

According to initial reports, at least 30 people have been wounded while some remain buried under the rubble.

An air strike on Friday near a mosque in the Shujaiya neighbourhood north of Gaza killed five-year-old Alaa Qaddoum, a 23-year-old woman and a 75-year-old grandmother.

Palestinian authorities said that 650 housing units have been damaged in the first 24 hours of the Israeli onslaught, which has targeted several residential towers, according to local media.

Israel warned on Saturday that its deadly bombing campaign on Gaza could last a week, as cross-border fire reverberated for a second day in the worst escalation since last year’s war.

"We've never seen this level of brutality. We are all civilians here. There are no members of any armed group," said a civilian Khamees Shammalk.

"They only gave us 15 minutes to evacuate, and we had to rush ourselves out, we couldn't take any of our belongings out," he said.

Amid the continued Israeli assault on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry warned that health facilities in Gaza were facing a total shutdown within 72 hours and called for the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow patients out of the enclave.

Earlier in the day, Gaza’s sole power plant said it was forced to close down, as Israel prevented the entry of fuel trucks into Gaza for almost a week. The closure of the plant means that Gaza's population will get only four hours of electricity a day.

As a result of prolonged power outages, Gaza's hospitals will face "difficult and decisive" hours, the ministry said in a statement.

"The power outage poses a serious threat to the work of vital departments in hospitals, especially emergency departments, intensive care, operations, dialysis departments, laboratories, nurseries, laundries, oxygen systems and medical gases," the ministry added.

"The Ministry of Health calls on all international, humanitarian and relief institutions to stand up to their responsibilities to pressure the Israeli occupation to allow patients in need of critical care to pass through the Beit Hanoun crossing immediately and work to supply health facilities with its urgent needs and fuel supplies."

The health sector in Gaza had been facing "the worst situation in years" before the assault even began, it added, experiencing a 40 percent shortage of medical supplies, 30 percent of the required emergency and surgical supplies and 60 percent of laboratory and blood bank supplies.

"Israeli forces are using lethal force against Palestinian citizens, resulting in the amputation of upper and lower limbs of children who were transported to hospitals yesterday," said Mohammed Abu Salmiyeh, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.